When nominations closed, the PAP stood unopposed in 55 of the 84 parliamentary seats to be contested in the November 3 snap elections -- the result of an opposition political strategy peculiar to Singapore.

By contesting less than half the seats up for grabs, the opposition is hoping that Singaporeans will now elect a few of their candidates after having been reassured that the PAP will be returned to power.

This strategy of turning the polls into a by-election has been employed by the opposition after realizing that it would be next to impossible to topple the popular and well-organized PAP.

The opposition won only two of the 83 seats contested in the 1997 elections, and is hoping to expand its presence by appealing to voters affected by the severe recession gripping the city-state.

Opposition candidate Chiam See Tong, chairman of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), said Singaporeans should now have "no fear of toppling the PAP government because the government has already been formed."

But the opposition was dealt a further blow when an opposition Workers' Party team aiming to contest a five-seat ward was disqualified after submitting incomplete registration forms.

Yet even if they had qualified to run, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's formidable political machine would have still won 50 seats unopposed, well above the simple majority of 43 it needed.

Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the former prime minister who like Goh was unopposed in his ward, was disappointed that the opposition had not fielded its reported target of 51 candidates, but he was not expecting a PAP sweep.

The PAP did not field its strongest candidates against two opposition MPs seeking re-election, and one or two more seats are "at risk" of going to the opposition, he said.

A veteran political analyst, Seah Chiang Nee, said it was possible for the opposition to improve on its previous two-seat victory "but it will be a steep hill climb."

"It will depend on its ability to work up public resentment on unpopular policies, like the influx of foreign workers during rising unemployment," Seah wrote in his independent website www.littlespeck.com.

He said the opposition was hoping to capitalize on "the growing disenchantment of the lower-educated middle class" which felt they had been left out of the "new prosperity" compared to more educated Singaporeans.

But a multi-billion-dollar economic package "narrowed this window of opportunity," he said.

Before dissolving parliament last week, the government unveiled an S$11.3 billion (US$6.2 billion) package to stimulate the economy.

This included a novel scheme to issue state-backed, interest-bearing "New Singapore Shares" totalling $2.7 billion dollars, with poorer citizens getting a bigger allocation. They can be swapped for cash or kept as an investment.

Tens of thousands of recession-hit Singaporeans have applied to cash in the shares amid opposition allegations that the government was engaged in vote-buying, which the PAP has denied.

"Individual freedoms, a favourite theme among liberal oppositionists in normal times, are now at the back burner," said Seah.

He said next week's vote "is the first election held under a nightmarish recession, a dangerous world war and an unstable region.'

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