The opposition has just two seats in the recently dissolved 93-seat Parliament but Chiam See Tong, chairman of the Singapore Democratic Alliance, is optimistic the numbers will improve.

"From the reception we are getting, I think there is a chance we will have a breakthrough this election . . . we should be able to get at least three seats," he said. "More young people understand the system better and they realise they will have more bargaining power if they have more opposition members in Parliament."

Founding father Lee Kuan Yew said the elections represented a "crucial milestone" for Singapore as it goes through its worst economic downturn and faces critical challenges ahead. Speaking publicly for the first time since the election was announced on Thursday, Mr Lee urged Singaporeans to remember the island-state needed a government capable of steering it out of the downturn and towards a prosperous future.

"When you vote, remember you are not just voting to score points," Mr Lee said in a visit late on Saturday to his parliamentary ward.

"You are helping to put your future and your children in steady hands," he was quoted as saying by the Sunday Times.

Mr Lee, who still retains significant influence in the Government as Senior Minister, told Singaporeans to brace for "quite unexpected changes" after the September 11 US terror attacks.

"We are into a very different security situation," he said, referring to the vast network of militants trained in Afghanistan.

"They are now spread all over the world and we will have to live with it."

Mr Chiam was one of two opposition politicians to break the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) monopoly in Parliament when he won a seat in the 1984 polls. He said the recession would hurt the PAP, which has been in power since the island gained independence in 1965, at the polling booths next month.

"Even though we know that the downturn is due to external factors, the man in the street would be less likely to give them [the PAP] the vote," he said.

Singapore's economy is projected to contract by three percentage points this year from 9.9 per cent last year as its biggest export market, the United States, heads into a protracted slowdown.

The country's once-fragmented opposition had matured as well, Mr Chiam said, adding that it was "on its way to forming a two-party system".

But he said a level playing field was necessary. "Things are never made easy for the opposition in Singapore . . . we want fairness."

He reiterated that the announcement of the snap elections, re-drawing of electoral boundaries and new political donation regulations had disadvantaged the opposition.