The Singapore Democratic Party notes the rumor that the PAP may call early elections next year.  They are not due until 2011, but the tanking economy means that it may be better to get them over with now than risk electoral carnage when the pain really hits, and as the SDP points out:

Of course, Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s age is a major factor. Without him, PAP would be without its ballast. The octogenarian PAP-founder is still at the front, back and centre of everything the Government does, even outperforming his prime minister son.