This morning, I held a dialogue with grassroots leaders on COVID-19 and what lies ahead for Singapore. This was a follow up to my TV broadcast on Thursday.
Fighting COVID-19 is difficult enough. But we also need to deal with COVID-19’s enormous impact on our economy.
Yesterday, the Government released the report of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee's (EBRC), which the Committee had just completed.
The General Elections must take place before 21 April 2021. They can only be called after the electoral registers are updated. This will take about a month.
When to hold elections? That depends on the situation, and the outlook.
Singapore faces grave and extended challenges.
We can’t tell when the pandemic will end, but it will likely last at least this year, and quite possibly longer.
The economic hit will likely be more serious than the Global Financial Crisis, and longer-lasting too, even beyond the end of the pandemic.
I fully expect things to get more serious before they start getting better.
We have two choices. Either hope and pray that things will stabilise before the end of the term so that we can hold elections under more normal circumstances – but we have no certainty of that.
Or else call elections early, knowing that we are going into a hurricane, to elect a new government with a fresh mandate and a full term ahead of it, which can work with Singaporeans on the critical tasks at hand.
If we have to hold elections before COVID-19 is over, we will take all the precautions necessary, so that parties can campaign effectively, and people can vote safely.
At stake are jobs, businesses and lives.
Which way to go, and the elections date, will depend on what will best see Singapore through this major crisis.
COVID-19 may well turn out to be the crisis that defines this generation of Singaporeans. We must gird ourselves to overcome this together, and show the world what Singapore can do. – LHL
#SGUnited
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