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SINGAPORE - With elections now more hotly contested, it is not unimaginable that several opposition parties could win enough seats at the next general election (GE) to form a coalition and run the government, said Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. While opposition parties have stated their goal of winning at least one-third of the seats in Parliament, they could end up winning more than 50 per cent of seats collectively, . He also said he believed all the seats would be contested at the next general election, which has to be called by November 2025. DPM Wong did not specify which opposition parties he was referring to, but the Workers’ Party has said in the past that its aim is to contest and win one-third of the seats in Parliament in the medium term. “If you were to take not just the Workers’ Party but one or two other opposition parties, if in the next election the contest is fiercer and we were to lose just a few percentage points, it is not unimaginable for two or maybe three opposition parties to come together, form a coalition and run the government,” he said. “(For them to) get more than 50 per cent – not at all unimaginable. And that’s why when I say that I do not assume that the PAP (People’s Action Party) will win the next election or that I will automatically be the (prime minister) after the election, I say that seriously.” DPM Wong was speaking to reporters before Singapore’s political system today is no longer a dominant one-party system but rather one where there are alternative voices in Parliament, and diverse views can be heard on any issue, DPM Wong said. But he emphasised that the system must also deliver a mandate for whichever party that governs so that it can do so effectively. “That is what we hope to preserve – that this will continue to be a system where a mandate is given to the ruling party, and the ruling party is able to govern Singapore in the best interests of its people.” Should the PAP no longer achieve the standards that Singaporeans expect, and an alternative emerges that can offer better solutions, then the latter deserves to get the mandate to govern, he added. However, he said he would do his utmost as prime minister and eventual leader of the PAP to ensure that the ruling party continues to get the people’s endorsement. “So long as it is under my watch, I will do everything I can to make sure that the PAP earns the confidence and trust of Singaporeans,” he said.