Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said at an election rally Thursday that the country's future is the most important issue in the upcoming general election, according to Channel NewsAsia report at night.

Lee, who is also the secretary general of the ruling People's Action Party (PAP), said that it is time to refocus on key issues such as providing opportunities for Singaporeans and involving every citizen in the nation's progress.

Reiterating that the PAP can take the country forward, Lee called on Singaporeans to put forward their solutions and try out their ideas.

Deputy Prime Minister and PAP's first assistant secretary general Wong Kan Seng dismissed an opposition party's pledge to be full-time Members of Parliament (MPs) if elected, saying that such MPs will lose contact with other parts of the country.

Other issues debated Thursday at election rallies and other campaigning activities concerned the cost of living, the healthcare cost, the estate upgrading projects, as well as the relationship between the PAP and the trade union.

There is only one day left before polling day on May 6 when more than 1.22 million Singaporeans, including 553 overseas voters, are expected to cast their votes at 422 polling stations islandwide.

The PAP, which was formed in 1954 and has been in power since Singapore's independence from Malaysia in 1965, secured 37 of the 84 parliamentary seats in seven uncontested Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) on Nomination Day last week.

However, it is for the first time since 1988 that the PAP did not win a majority of the total seats to declare victory in the general election 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 (SMCs) and the other seven of the 14 GRCs to challenge the PAP.

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.

Source: Xinhua