SINGAPORE: When Singa-poreans hear politicians talk about lifts stopping at every floor, they know an election may be just around the corner. Over the past months, four of the 14 constituencies run by Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) have earmarked a total of S$1.5 billion ($887 million) to give the city-state’s state-owned housing estates a makeover.

These upgrades usually include a fresh coat of paint, parks, playgrounds and an improvement on a quirk of ageing Singapore housing blocks: lifts that only stop on every other floor.

Such promised improvements typically precede a poll.

“I think it is more than obvious that you can smell the readiness of the PAP electoral machine,” said Hussin Mutalib, a political analyst at the National University of Singapore.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who was appointed in August 2004, does not need to call a parliamentary election until mid-2007. But he said in September that he was preparing for one.

Many observers expect a poll as soon as the first quarter, given the strength of the economy.

“The news flow on the economic side is looking very rosy,” said Song Seng Wun, a senior economist at CIMB-GK Research. He said a recent scandal involving Singapore’s largest charity had been ‘quite well handled’ by the government.

The PAP has dominated parliament in the 40 years since Singapore’s independence. Only two of the 84 elected politicians in the current parliament are from the opposition parties.

Over 80 per cent of Singaporeans live in public housing built and maintained by the government’s Housing Development Board and most of these flats, which can be worth up to S$400,000 ($240,100), are owner-occupied.

Renovations can boost resale values and the PAP has previously dangled promises — and threats — about upgrades to sway voters.

Former prime minister Goh Chok Tong said before a January 1997 poll that those constituencies which elected an opposition candidate would be the last in line for upgrading. He said voters who rejected the PAP programmes would be left behind.

“Then in 20, 30 years’ time, the whole of Singapore will be bustling away and your estate, through your own choice, will be left behind. They become slums. That’s my message,” Goh was quoted as saying during the campaign.

This time, PAP parliamentarians have been coy about upgrades, saying they are part of a regular renovation programme and should not be seen as election sweeteners.

“The upgrading programme is a major platform promise of the government and we have made this promise every election, not just this coming one,” Minister of National Development Mah Bow Tan was quoted as saying in the Straits Times newspaper this month.

Opposition politicians have criticized the upgrading programme as an unfair tactic that the PAP employs to deny them a level-playing field.

“It is clearly pork-barrel politics. The PAP always uses these gimmicks and material goods to lure voters,” said Steve Chia, secretary-general of the opposition National Solidarity Party and a member of parliament.

Estate upgrades can be funded both by locally controlled town councils or the Housing Development Board.

Renovations funded by this board are more elaborate, and often include building an extra room or bathroom in the apartments, or re-fitting lifts that stop at every floor.—Reuters