Singapore election: PAP not afraid of open contest of ideas

"We do so in real life... during campaign... we do so online... we do so in Parliament," said Dr Balakrishnan, who will contest in the Holland-Bukit Timah group representation constituency (GRC) in the upcoming elections.

"I hope you are aware whatever the outcome of this election there will be more opposition members in the new Parliament than the current Parliament," he stressed.

Dr Balakrishnan, who is also the Foreign Minister of the caretaker government, said: "These members whether they win their seats or they coming as NCMPs (Non-Constituency Members of Parliament) have full voting rights including amending the constitution and voting votes of confidence with or against the government.

"So we are completely open to this contest because at the end of the day we are Singaporeans and we do want a better life," he said.

The next Parliament will have 93 elected MPs, up from the current 89.

The republic's constitution ensures that there will be at least 21 alternative voices in Parliament after the elections.

Apart from opposition candidates who win seats, there will be up to 12 NCMPs from among the remaining opposition candidates who have received the highest votes, to guarantee at least 12 opposition MPs in Parliament, compared to nine in the last Parliament.

All NCMPs will have full voting rights, including for constitutional amendments and supply bills for the budget.

Joining the debates, which were broadcast by Mediacorp, were Progress Singapore Party's Francis Yuen, Workers' Party's Dr Jamus Lim, and Singapore Democratic Party's Dr Chee Soon Juan.

Entitled "Singapore Votes 2020 - The Political Debate", the hour-long programmes comprised two segments.

In the first segment, a moderator asked the four candidates a series of questions on topics including unemployment, helping businesses and social mobility.

In the second segment, candidates got to ask questions of other candidates in a structured sequence as well as to answer questions posed to them by other candidates.

The second debate was in Mandarin, aired right after the English one.