With the long-ruling People's Action party (PAP) guaranteed almost certain victory, attention will focus on the level of popular support for the government.

Anything less than two-thirds support for the PAP would indicate increased disenchantment about the government's economic policies, particularly among its core working-class constituency.

The government's push to make Singapore a more open and globalised economy threatens to alienate some PAP supporters, who have complained about growing inequality.

One controversial issue has been the government's policy of hiring foreign executives to help manage state-run companies in spite of rising jobless rates in a society that lacks an unemployment insurance scheme.

In what was regarded as the opening shot of the election campaign, the government last week unveiled a S$11.3billion (US$6.2billionn) stimulus package, which included the free distribution of S$2.7bn in New Singapore Shares to 2m adult citizens, who can collect up to S$1700 once the bond-like instruments are redeemed.

The government said the package was meant to fight the declining economy, which is expected to shrink by 3 per cent this year due to a sharp fall in exports of electronics, Singapore's biggest industry.

Although a general election is not due until August 2002, analysts said the government decided to call an early poll before the economy became worse.

Opposition parties complain they have little chance of winning an election because of what they described as the "gerrymandering" of electoral districts. In the last election in 1997, the PAP swept 81 of the 83 seats at stake with 65 per cent of the vote.

The government on Wednesday (Oct 17) announced redrawn electoral boundaries. The three opposition parties, which normally have problems recruiting candidates to field a full slate against the PAP, said the creation of 14 bigger, multicandidate wards would be disadvantageous to them.

Under the "first past the post" system, the party winning a multicandidate ward takes all the seats, which number five or six. There are also nine single-seat wards. The government said it increased the size of multicandidate wards and expanded parliament to 84 seats to account for a rise in the number of voters and changes to where they lived.

According to a Reuters report Opposition parties complain the system is stacked against them but have long had problems mounting a credible challenge to a government that has delivered phenomenal improvements to Singapore's standard of living over the past 36 years.

In the previous two elections, opposition candidates contested fewer than half the seats. But they bristle at the notion that the PAP can hold 81 of 83 elected seats when it won 65 percent of the vote in the last election in 1997.

Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong -- also chairman of the central bank and son of Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore's first prime minister -- introduced four new candidates on Thursday (Oct 18) and said the PAP would publish its manifesto on Friday.

After unveiling a S$11.3 billion ($6.2 billion) stimulus package last week, the government announced redrawn electoral boundaries on Wednesday. Voter rolls opened last month.

Opposition parties, which often cannot muster resources to contest multi-candidate wards, were angry at the creation of more five- and six-seat group representation constituencies (GRCs).

The Singapore Democratic Party called it "a clear indication of the desperation of the PAP government to deprive the majority of our voters their right to exercise their franchise".

Under the "first past the post" system, the party winning the vote in a GRC takes all of the seats.

PAP MACHINERY HUMMING

Gillian Koh, a research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies think-tank, noted there were still nine single-seat wards for opposition parties to contest but said they would face tough times with the elimination of three- and four-seat GRCs.

"The PAP has got its machinery going 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The opposition is going to be hard pressed to come up with five good, credible guys in these other GRCs," she said. "What they need is a good, solid platform on national issues."

The government said more super-wards and the expansion of parliament to 84 seats were needed to account for a rise in the number of voters and changes to where they live.

It also set out new rules for Internet use during the election, allowing photographs of candidates, calls for members and chat rooms but banning opinion polls and appeals for funds.

Singapore has also released details on how it plans to regulate political content on the Internet and in Short Messaging Services (SMS) on mobile phones.

The island state, which already has tight media controls on electioneering activities, implemented the new code on October 17 to set down rules on what can and cannot be done in cyberspace during an election campaign.

The newly introduced Parliamentary Elections Act allows political parties and candidates to run chat rooms but the law requires each to have an identifiable moderator specified by the party or candidate to keep logs of all messages.

The moderator must use his ``best efforts'' to ensure messages conform with the law, and remove messages against public interest, public order or national harmony, or which offend good taste or decency, according to the rules.

The law bans polls and appeals for funds over the Internet during the election.

But the rules do allow political parties to put up pictures, biographical information and political messages.

The new rules also request political parties, candidates and election agents indicate their identity when sending e-mails and SMS messages and states such messages must not ask receivers to send them on to others.

Nomination of candidates for the forthcoming election closes on October 25, which will be followed by a traditionally brisk nine-day campaign period.