The government called an early election for November 3 on Thursday. Analysts said the move was opportune for the PAP to ensure its popularity given the economic uncertainties ahead.

"We have reduced business costs to preserve jobs. We have cut company taxes, reduced rental and property taxes, delayed the restoration of employer CPF (pension contributions), and extended credit lines for small and medium enterprises," the PAP said in its manifesto.

"We will invest even more in our people. We plan to raise the amount spent on education from 3.6 percent to 4.5 percent of GDP (gross domestic product) over the next few years. This means an extra S$1.5 billion every year."

The PAP, which has dominated politics since independence in 1965, has 81 of 83 seats in the current parliament. Despite the economic malaise, it is unlikely to lose many seats in the expanded 84-seat house.

In the previous two elections, opposition candidates contested fewer than half the seats. But they object to the idea that the PAP can hold all but two seats when it won 65 percent of the vote in the last election in 1997.

"I ask you to vote for me, my PAP team and our programme for you," Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, also secretary-general of the PAP, said in a letter to voters. "Place your trust in us again, to take Singapore safely into the future."

Goh, currently in Shanghai for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, said the September 11 attacks on the United States would prolong the global economic downturn.

Singapore's economy grew a blazing 9.9 percent in 2000 but sank into recession in the second quarter. The government expects a three percent contraction in gross domestic product this year and sees weakness persisting well into the first half of 2002.

"The world has changed," Goh said. "We need to restructure and revitalise our economy, search out the best way forward, and strengthen the bonds that make us a people united."

The manifesto detailed the ruling party's past achievements ranging from comfortable homes and racial harmony to social cohesion and political stability.

It also promised voters a secure future and a better life by investing in the people, upgrading and revitalising the economy and fostering a more cohesive society.

ECONOMY AND EDUCATION

The PAP said it would build on the city state's strengths in manufacturing to upgrade its industries into higher value-added research and development and design activities.

It will also identify and develop growth opportunities in areas like information technology, biomedical sciences, education and healthcare.

The government's foreign talent policy -- to woo the best and brightest to its shores -- is increasingly being scrutinised against the backdrop of rising unemployment.

The PAP said it will start a fourth university and a fifth polytechnic as well as regional institutes of technical education.

"We will commit more resources into our primary and secondary schools to build a high quality education system that maximises our children's potential," it said.

A recent Gallup poll of 724 employed Singaporeans found 68 percent were concerned about foreign talent competing with their children and grandchildren for the same jobs.