Three political parties contesting Singapore's next general election will hold their rallies on Friday evening, the Singapore Police Force said in a statement Thursday.

Election meetings are allowed to be held at 24 designated sites, such as open fields and stadiums, from April 28 to May 5, the eve of Polling Day, between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., according to the police.

As parties need to apply for permits to organize rallies, party supporters have been queuing at the police complex since Wednesday morning, local news reports said.

The election campaign is heating up as thousands of banners and posters showing candidates of different parties have been seen on lamp-posts a few hours after the nomination closed around noon on Thursday.

The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has secured 37 of the 84 parliamentary seats in seven uncontested Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) on Nomination Day.

The opposition parties, including the Workers' Party (WP), the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and the Singapore Democratic Party, have fielded 47 candidates in all the nine Single Member Constituencies and the other seven of the 14 GRCs to challenge the PAP.

It is for the first time since 1988 that the PAP did not won a majority of the total seats to declare victory in the general election on Nomination Day.

Singapore's last general election was held in November 2001, in which the PAP got 75 percent of the votes and won 82 out of the 84 parliamentary seats, while the WP and the SDA gained one seat each.

Nearly 2.16 million of Singapore's some 4 million population, including more than 1,000 who have registered overseas, are now eligible to vote in the coming election.

Of them, about 1.22 million residing in the 16 contested constituencies will go to vote on May 6.

Source: Xinhua