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The ruling Singapore party set in motion Friday a carefully orchestrated political succession in which the founding family should cede the post of prime minister, a key moment in the city's short history.
Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat has been appointed second in command of the People's Action Party (PAP), which has headed Singapore since it gained Britain's independence in 1959, putting it on the way to becoming prime minister.
This 57-year-old is expected to succeed in the coming years to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, son of the late Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who oversaw the country's rapid economic development for three decades of a regime sometimes. authoritarian.
The transfer of power, which begins as Singapore prepares for elections next year, is in line with Prime Minister Lee's 66-year-old plan to empower a generation of largely younger leaders.
Heng would be the country's fourth prime minister and the second outgoing to the Lee family.
It will be a sensitive moment for the financial center of 5.6 million inhabitants, with the transformation of the country into one of the richest and most stable societies in the world, intimately linked to the power of the family Lee.
The PAP announced in a statement that Heng had been appointed first deputy secretary general, putting him in a leading position to hold the post of prime minister. The man considered his closest rival for the high-level post – Commerce Minister Chan Chun Sing – was appointed second deputy secretary general, the PAP announced.
During an unprecedented family feud that captivated the country last year, Prime Minister Lee rejected accusations that he harbored political ambitions for his son.
– Health problems –
Some have, however, been frowning at the choice of the Minister of Finance as successor to the Prime Minister.
Trade Minister Chan, who is under 49, was previously considered the favorite, while Heng's health has raised concerns since he was a victim of a stroke in 2016.
"Heng was the weakest candidate (…) .He already had a stroke and his wallet is very narrow," AFP Michael Barr, a Singaporean university expert, told AFP. Flinders in Australia.
Heng entered politics in 2011 and served as Minister of Education before becoming Minister of Finance. Previously, he ran the central bank.
But Eugene Tan, a political analyst at Singapore Management University, described Heng as a "proven" official, particularly because of his financial background.
"I think Mr. Heng would provide this flawless assurance that economic policies will continue to be business-friendly," he told AFP.
Elections are expected by 2021, but Prime Minister Lee said they could be earlier.
The government should not be facing serious difficulties with its power: it tightly controls the institutions, tightly controls the national media, while the opposition is weak and divided.
Last year's family feud saw Lee's brothers and sisters accuse him online of exploiting their father's legacy for his own political agenda and seeking to prepare his Li Hongyi's son to become one day head of the city.
It was an escalation of a feud over the fate of a family bungalow stewed since the death of the eldest Lee in 2015.
The patriarch wanted the building to be destroyed to prevent the creation of a personality cult – what the current leader's brothers and sisters say he's trying to block.
