The date for this year’s Singapore general elections (GE2025) is set. Voting is on May 3 and nominations will be filed on April 23. In preparation for the polls, Singapore President Tharman Shanmugaratnam has dissolved Parliament today.
Singapore Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong posted on X that he had “advised the President to dissolve Parliament and issue the Writ of Election”. Pointing X users to a Singapore Government media release for details about GE2025, PM Wong also posted more messages on these vital elections and the rationale for the timing.
We are witnessing profound changes in the world. It is becoming more uncertain, unsettled and even unstable. The global conditions that enabled Singapore’s success over the past decades may no longer hold. That is why I have called this General Election. At this critical juncture, Singaporeans should decide on the team to lead our nation, and to chart our way forward together.
Lawrence Wong, serving and fourth Prime Minister of Singapore and secretary general of People’s Action Party
In a GE2025 report, The Straits Times said today that the April 23 nomination date would give candidates “the minimum nine days of campaigning” before Cooling-off Day on May 2, before polling on May 3.
ST said that in these elections, Singaporean voters “will elect 97 MPs in 33 constituencies — 18 group representation constituencies and 15 single seats”.
“The Returning Officer (RO) is Mr Han Kok Juan, Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore,” said the Singapore Government media release.
Giving context to the importance of these elections, ST referred to the “trade war” between the United States and China.
Singapore, which has been hit with a 10 per cent reciprocal tariff by the Donald Trump administration, has had to downgrade its GDP 2025 growth forecast, as it was announced yesterday.
GE2025 marks a milestone for the ruling People’s Action Party, as it is set to introduce 30 new candidates, more than it has ever fielded. The first batch of eight new candidates introduced by PM Wong has a PIO face in Dr Hamid Razak, an accomplished surgeon and an eminent community leader.
On Sunday, connecting with the small but significant community of Indians in Singapore, PM Wong said, “Your story is a story of Singapore — small and yet punching above your weight.”
For Indians in Singapore who will be voting, a noteworthy PIO name is Leader of the Opposition and Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh, who was convicted recently but remained eligible for contesting the 2025 general elections in Singapore. The court penalty given to Singh was below the cut-off mark for disqualification as an MP and a poll candidate.
