The cost of living is the key theme of Singapore's general election on May 3, which the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) is expected to dominate despite opposition gains over the past decade.
Voting is compulsory for Singapore's 2.76 million registered voters, who will go to the polls on Saturday following a campaign spanning just nine days.
The PAP — which has been in power since Singapore was granted self-rule by the British in 1959 — is tipped to retain the overwhelming majority of seats in parliament.
Still, the election is seen as the first major test for Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
Lee Hsien Loong handed the top job to Mr Wong in December after two decades in power.
Mr Lee is the the son of Singapore's influential founder Lee Kuan Yew, who ran Singapore for 31 years.
"This election is very important to Lawrence Wong," said Michael Barr, associate professor of international relations at Flinders University.
"If he does poorly, which means a drop in the vote or the opposition picking up some more seats, he should be looking over his shoulder."
Polling suggests that is unlikely.
A YouGov survey of 1,000 Singaporeans released in early April showed 63 per cent of decided voters would cast their ballot for the PAP.
Only 15 per cent said they'd vote for the main opposition Workers' Party.
Mr Wong told a PAP rally this week that a vote for the opposition was "not a free vote for more alternative voices in parliament".
"It's a vote to weaken the PAP team, the team that is truly working for you," he said as quoted by Channel News Asia.
"It will weaken us at a time when our country is facing real and serious challenges."
Opposition campaigns in restricted circumstances
The Workers' Party won 10 out of 93 parliamentary seats at the 2020 election — its best result in history.
Party chief Pritam Singh said in a campaign video there was "a medium-term goal for the Workers' Party to have at least one-third of the seats in the House".
"We want a Singapore where no matter what your lot in life, you know that you have a political system which can carry your views," he said.
YouGov found cost of living was by far the largest concern for Singaporeans, with some 72 per cent of people surveyed deeming it the most important issue.
Opposition figures have accused the government of inadequately managing inflation and housing.
Yet they have campaigned in a restrictive environment.
Several months prior to the election Mr Singh was found guilty of lying under oath to a parliamentary committee and fined $SG14,000 ($16,672), on charges critics say are trumped up.
He will appeal the conviction.
Human rights groups have long accused the PAP of using the legal system to stifle political opposition.
Dr Barr said the election would "be free in the sense that we can presume quite reasonably that the ballot box is not going to be stuffed".
"But it's certainly not fair. The level of intimidation and the government's control of the media … We go into it just assuming that the government is never going to get less than 85 per cent of the seats," he said.
The government last week ordered Facebook to block a number of posts promoting opposition candidates, including from one Australian citizen who grew up in Singapore, alleging they were "foreign interference" in the city-state's politics.
Several Singapore-based analysts declined to be interviewed for this story due to fear of official reprisals.
Trump tariffs spook Singaporean leaders
Han Hui Hui is running as a candidate for the People's Alliance for Reform, a grouping of minor parties which currently holds no seats in parliament.
She's running in the electorate of Tanjong Pagar — known to be a PAP stronghold.
"I think people are concerned about how the government is not performing. They are also very scared of voting for the opposition," she said.
"Their defence mechanism comes in: '[the opposition] have never run the government, so I can't vote for them.'"
Ms Han, herself a mother of three, said that the cost of living and growing inequalities were consistent themes with voters — especially since the government increased GST to 9 per cent last year.
The fallout of the Trump administration's tariffs and trade war with China have sparked further concern in trade-reliant Singapore.
Deputy Prime Minister and Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong last month warned Singapore could not rule out the possibility of a recession.
"We are facing the most serious challenge to the global rules-based economic order," Mr Gan said.
"We must be prepared for a more protectionist, unstable and fragmented world ahead."
While only subject to 10 per cent tariffs — the lowest imposed by the Trump administration — the South-East Asian nation is vulnerable to a potential global economic downturn.
Back in Tanjong Pagar, Ms Han knows it's unlikely she will unseat the PAP.
But she said it's important that Singaporeans have choice at the ballot box and an opposition to hold the ruling party to account.
"They just say, 'Why are you coming here? You will never win this constituency' … The thing is, if something is so difficult, somebody has to take the first step," she said.
"I'm willing to be the person to take the first step, knowing I will not win."
