I hope that the panel to review electoral boundaries will be transparent in the division of these boundaries, to avoid accusations of gerrymandering ("Election on the cards; boundaries panel formed"; yesterday).

This election will be a watershed one, as the nation's founding father Lee Kuan Yew is no longer with us.

The ruling party under Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his team is expected to face a good fight from the opposition parties, in particular, the Workers' Party (WP), which made inroads in the last general election.

Singaporeans have always felt that preparations for elections are continually being carried out by the People's Action Party, by way of assistance for the elderly, among other things. The PAP has also levelled criticism on the WP for its Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council accounting system.

All this is part and parcel of political strategy and not unusual in a mature democracy.

A good number of Singaporeans believe in being fair when raising issues, even if the issues may be robustly debated during the impending election campaign. This shows that our society is now more mature and better educated, especially the younger generations.

I hope that immature and self-serving candidates wanting to score points with vicious criticisms will be in the minority.

Singaporeans are looking forward to SG50 celebrations, as well as the election this year or the next.

Let the hustings begin, and may we listen and vote wisely.

Adrian Villanueva