In announcing the change, which will also apply to the presidential election, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said the idea had been on the table for many years.

The decision to finally go ahead comes in the light of another significant set of changes to the election rules he proposed months ago.

In May, Mr Lee announced in Parliament that Singapore's political system would be amended to give non-People's Action Party (PAP) members at least 18 seats, or nearly one-fifth, of the House.

This would involve changes regarding Non-Constituency MPs and Nominated MPs, plus the Group Representation Constituency and single-member ward schemes.

'The legislation is almost done now, but there has been a little bit of delay because we had one further thought, which is to extend the period between Nomination Day and Polling Day by one extra day and to use that extra day as a cooling off period before polling itself,' Mr Lee said.