Nathan dissolved parliament on 20 April 2006 on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong three weeks before the election.

[4] The main election issues included employment, cost of living, housing, transport, education, the need for an effective opposition voice in parliament, and the quality of the candidates.

For this election, the deposit for each candidate was set at S$13,500 (approximately US$8,590 or £4,620) which was about 8% of the total annual salary to a member of parliament in the preceding year, rounded to the nearest S$500.

[10] There were several overseas polling stations, namely Tokyo, Canberra, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, London, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco.

Also unchanged was the Chua Chu Kang SMC which saw a close contest in the previous election between the ruling PAP's Low Seow Chay and NSP's Steve Chia.

The boundaries for the five Group Representation Constituencies (namely Bishan–Toa Payoh, Hong Kah, Jalan Besar, Jurong and Tampines) were also intact.

[12][13] On 20 April 2006, Parliament was dissolved by President Sellapan Ramanathan on the advice of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

[17] A total of 49 candidates made their debut among which include notable PAP candidates include Grace Fu, Lui Tuck Yew, Josephine Teo and Masagos Zulkifli, while WP introduced their party's chairwoman Sylvia Lim (who would later become the first-ever female opposition MP-elect in the next election), as well as James Gomez (now SDP member) and Goh Meng Seng (who later founded the People's Power Party).

Deputy Prime Minister Wong Kan Seng (PAP) later dismissed claims that the progress package constitutes a form of vote buying.

[23] Khaw Boon Wan, revealed various changes in medical policies, including the Medisave scheme, which had been a constant target for criticism by opposition parties.

He also chided the WP for its "failure to understand what makes inter-racialism work in Singapore and why we are different from the rest of the world", referring the four points brought up by Ng Eng Hen as "poisons"[24] Workers' Party chairman Sylvia Lim released a press statement[25] on 22 January, responding to each of the four "time bombs" criticised by Ng and adding that the party was standing firmly by its manifesto.

[14] Four of SDP's eleven committee members apologized shortly after, while the party's chairman refused to do so, as it would constitute "an admission of guilt".

[34] As early as January 2006, when it became clear that the election would be held soon, the political parties began making definitive plans for Nomination Day.

"[45] In March 2006, it was thought that there could be a potential three-way contest in MacPherson SMC, where both Mansor Rahman, Chairman of Democratic Progressive Party, and Sin Kek Tong, Chairman of Singapore People's Party, cited interest to run for that seat, but both members eventually chose not to contest.

Observers projected that the other 37 candidates from seven Group Representative Constituencies would return unopposed and the PAP would be denied a majority on nomination day,[46] an eventuality that proved to be true.

[citation needed] Another cited reason was that, if the Government electoral commission redrew those boundaries, the opposition would be able to exploit such actions by accusing the PAP of gerrymandering to avoid the ballot challenge.

WP had called for the abolishment of the GRC system which it considered as a means introduced by the PAP to make it difficult for opposition who lack sufficient resource to contest the large electoral division.

[53] Controversy arose during the election surrounding the application for a minority-race candidate certificate by James Gomez of Workers' Party.

[54] On 24 April, Gomez went to the Elections Department to fill up the minority-race candidate certificate application form accompanied by the chairperson Sylvia Lim.

On the eve of Nomination Day, James Gomez went to collect his minority-race candidate certificate claiming he had submitted the application form.

At 1 pm that day, an Elections Department staff called Gomez and told him that he did not submit the Indian and minority candidate certificate form.

[55] Following two days of dispute between both sides, the Elections Department was able to produce video evidence showing that James Gomez did not submit the application form; a day later, James Gomez apologised to the Elections Department at a Worker's Party rally saying he was distracted by his busy schedule.

[15] George Yeo (PAP) also suggested that the Worker's Party should sack Gomez and field a four-member team for the five-member Group Representation Constituency.

The PAP argued that government was successful in raising the standard of living in the country, and those who supported its various policies, including the upgrading, should be given priority.

A report by Malaysian press The Star estimated that around 10,000 people attended the Workers' Party rally on 30 April at Hougang.

Gomez was brought to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) at Police Cantonment Complex for questioning and to file his statement, after which he was released at midnight.

Five new candidates, Lui Tuck Yew, Lee Yi Shyan, Grace Fu, Teo Ser Luck and Masagos Zulkifli, along with three returning MPs, S Iswaran, Amy Khor and Zainudin Nordin, were promoted as Minister of State or Parliamentary secretaries in political office.

[70] Several members of the Workers' Party are active in blogsphere; the notable bloggers are James Gomez, Goh Meng Seng, and Melvin Tan.

A candidate Goh Meng Seng (WP) refused to register his blog, saying "I don't see the need to do so as an individual citizen.

"[77] In a parliament session on 3 April 2006, Balaji Sadasivan, the senior minister of state for information, communications and the arts, made some clarification on the regulation in response to a question by Low Thia Khiang.