Singapore Reviews Electoral Boundaries, Signaling Election Looms

(Bloomberg) -- The Singaporean government announced on Wednesday it has formed a committee to review electoral boundaries, a sign that general elections may be just months away.

Traditionally, a vote follows the committee’s recommendations for electoral boundaries once they’re submitted to the prime minister. While no date for the report was given, it is a process that’s taken two to four months in the past two cycles.

The committee was asked to reduce the average size of group representation constituencies and increase the number of the existing 13 single-member constituencies.

The committee “is now in the midst of its deliberations and will make its recommendations to the Prime Minister when it has completed its review,” the statement reads.

Singapore’s next general election must be held by April 2021 though the ruling party has called for early elections in recent cycles.

The election is widely seen as Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s last as he has vowed to hand over the reigns by the time he turns 70 in 2022.

--With assistance from Michael Sin.

To contact the reporters on this story: Yongchang Chin in Singapore at ychin22@bloomberg.net;Philip J. Heijmans in Singapore at pheijmans1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ruth Pollard at rpollard2@bloomberg.net, Jasmine Ng

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