Singaporeans begin to cast their votes for the 2015 general election as 832 polling stations open throughout the island republic at 8am today.

This the 17th GE for Singapore and the 12th since independence in 1965.

It is also the first GE after the death of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and dubbed as most comprehensive and critical as this will shape the way forward for Singaporeans.

Candidates from nine political parties, including the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP), are competing for 16 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and 13 Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) to fill 89 parliamentary seats.

The eight other parties are the Workers Party (WP), Singapore People’s Party (SPP), Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), National Solidarity Party (NSP), Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), Reform Party (RP), Singaporeans First (SF) and People’s Power Party (PPP).

For the first time since 2001, two independent candidates, Han Hui Hui and Samir Salim Neji, are contesting in the GE.

This GE will also see several hotly contested seats, among them, the five-member Al-Junied GRC (WP is incumbent) and four-member East Coast GRC which PAP and WP will fight for.

Tanjong Pagar, a stronghold of PAP during the years of the late Lee, who died in March this year, is now being contested.

For Ang Mo Kio GRC (six seats), PAP secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong, who is the Prime Minister, and his team Intan Mokhtar, Koh Poh Koon, Gan Thian Poh, Ang Hin Kee, Darryl David are contesting against RP’s M. Ravi, Osman Sulaiman, Roy Ngerng, Gilbert Goh, Jesse Loo and Siva Chandran.

Eighteen designated assembly centres have been established where electoral candidates, their supporters and members of the public can gather to await the announcement of results after polling closes at 8pm.

Voters queue as early as 7.30am

Meanwhile, at the Pei Chun Public School, Toa Payoh, one of the polling stations for Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, voters queued as early as 7.30am even though voting only starts at 8am.

V Mariammah, 65, from Lorong 8 Toa Payoh told reporters when met that she came to vote early to avoid the crowd.

“The voting process went smoothly as the weather is good this morning,” said Mariammah, who was accompanied by her daughter.

Jamilah Johari, 39, also came as early as 8am with her husband, Fedley Kamsan, 36, and took about 15 minutes to complete her vote.

“This is the second time in my life (vote) and I hope whichever party is chosen by the people will look into health and housing issues,” she said.

Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, a five-member delegation see PAP being challenged by SPP.

PAP is represented by Minister of Defence Dr Ng Eng Hen, Josephine Teo Chee Hong Tat, Saktiandi Supaat and Chong Kee Hiong.

SPP is represented by Benjamin Pwee, Hamim Aliyas, Law Kim Hwee, Abdillah Zamzuri and Bryan Long.

- Bernama