Next GE may not be when ‘everybody is expecting it’: PM Lee

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http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...n/1526188.html

TITLE: Next GE may not be when ‘everybody is expecting it’: PM Lee

By Sara Grosse
POSTED: 12 Dec 2014 14:20
URL: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/...n/1526188.html

There are several factors to be considered in deciding when to call for the next General Elections, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says.
BUSAN: Singapore’s next General Election will not necessarily be when “everybody is expecting it”, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Friday (Dec 12).

Speaking to the media at the ASEAN-Republic of Korea (ROK) Commemorative Summit in Busan, South Korea, Mr Lee outlined several factors to be considered in deciding when to call for the next elections.

“It depends on what the state of our preparations are, it depends on what is happening in the world, if a major crisis is coming up,” he said. "It also depends on other agenda which we are busy with. There will always be some agenda going on, for example, next year there is SG50. So we will have to take all this into account.”

The next General Election must be held by January 2017.

Mr Lee also addressed speculation on who the next National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) chief will be, saying this will be made known “within a few months’ time”.

He said the young ministers have been involved in NTUC and are getting an understanding of what the union movement is about. He also noted that the Government has some ideas for developing and strengthening NTUC.

On the ASEAN-ROK Summit, Mr Lee expressed concerns that the review of the South Korea-Singapore Free Trade Agreement (FTA) has not made a lot of progress.

However, Mr Lee said he has spoken to South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on how Singapore and South Korea should work on improving the FTA. He said he hopes that more substantive content can be seen as the two countries celebrate their 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations next year.

- CNA/cy


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