SINGAPORE, April 20 (Xinhua) -- Singapore President S. R. Nathan dissolved Parliament on Thursday on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, according to a government statement.

    The move signals that the next general election will be called soon after, which will lead to the formation of the country's 11th Parliament since its independence in 1965.

    A total of 84 Members of Parliament (MPs) will be elected in the nine Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) and 14 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) across the country in the election, the statement said.

    In a accordance with the law, the registered electors resident in a SMC will vote for a single individual to be their MP while those in a GRC will vote for a group of three to six individuals to be their MPs. There are now only five-member and six-member GRCs in the city state.

    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 election.

    The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) led by Lee, which has introduced 24 new candidates for the upcoming election, unveiled its manifesto and election slogan of "Staying Together, Moving Ahead" last Saturday.

    Established in 1954, the PAP won in all the general elections since 1959. It aims to gain 83 parliamentary seats this time.

    The opposition parties, including the Workers' Party, the Singapore Democratic Party, the Singapore Democratic Alliance and the Democratic Progressive Party, have decided to contest up to 57 seats in all the nine SMCs and nine out of the 14 GRCs.

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