"Singaporeans will be heading to the polls on Saturday, 3 May, following the dissolution of Parliament by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Tuesday
“Singaporeans will be heading to the polls on Saturday, 3 May, following the dissolution of Parliament by President Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Tuesday afternoon (15 April), acting on the advice of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
This marks the official start of the journey toward the next General Election, the first to be held under PM Wong’s leadership since he took office on 15 May 2024. Candidate nominations will be filed on 23 April, after which a nine-day campaign period will ensue, followed by a cooling-off day before voting.
Overseeing the electoral process this year is Han Kok Juan, who has served as Returning Officer since 1 April 2024 and is currently Director-General of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.
Voters will cast their ballots across 33 constituencies, with 97 parliamentary seats up for contest. The election’s timing has drawn particular attention, not only because it falls under a new Prime Minister’s term but also because of its clash with a much-anticipated long weekend. Labour Day falls on Thursday, 1 May, meaning cooling-off day is on Friday and polling occurs on Saturday — prompting light-hearted frustration among some voters.
“There goes my holiday,” one Singaporean commented online. Others jokingly lamented the disruption to weekend plans, with one writing, “Why put the vote right in the middle of the long break?”
Nine nomination centres across the island have been designated for the different electoral divisions, including Chongfu School (Nee Soon, Sembawang), Methodist Girls’ School (Bishan-Toa Payoh, Holland-Bukit Timah), and Poi Ching School (Aljunied, Hougang, Tampines), among others.
This will be the third time in recent history that Singapore has held elections in May, with previous polls in 2006 and 2011 also taking place that month.
All eyes are now on how opposition parties, particularly the Workers’ Party (WP), will perform. In 2020, WP achieved a historic win by securing two Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) — Aljunied and Sengkang — and increasing their total to 10 elected Members of Parliament.
Following that result, then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong recognised WP leader Pritam Singh as the official Leader of the Opposition — a role that came with dedicated staff and resources. The party’s rise marked a turning point in Singapore’s political landscape, and the upcoming election will test whether this momentum continues.
As the countdown to Nomination Day begins, the political scene is heating up — even if for some, the biggest complaint is about cancelled holiday plans.
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