Letters | Singapore election results show city is maturing as a democracy

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Voters queue to cast their ballots at a polling station in Singapore on July 10. Singaporeans continued the ruling People’s Action Party’s hold on power since independence but also elected a record number of opposition members to parliament as a ‘check and balance’ on the government. Photo: EPA

Published: 8:00am, 17 Jul 2020Updated: 8:03am, 17 Jul 2020

It had probably been the quietest nine-day election campaign in what was dubbed a Covid-19 election in Singapore, with rallies banned and on-the-ground campaigning limited. The battleground thus shifted to live-streamed speeches, social media postings and televised debates.

The People’s Action Party (PAP), which has governed Singapore since 1959, returned as the ruling power with 83 of the 93 seats contested. However, it only won 61.2 per cent of the vote, a drop of 8.7 percentage points from the 2015 election.

This was only slightly above the 60.1 per cent vote share garnered in 2011, its worst performance ever. Meanwhile, the share of the opposition doubled to an all-time high of 10 elected members in the next parliament.

While PAP said the election results still reflected broad-based support for the party, the strong showing by the opposition was something the party must reflect upon. The PAP’s track record is no longer enough, especially among young voters, after it lost the newly formed Sengkang Group Representation Constituency that consists of a younger demographic.

By continually repeating the dangers of Covid-19 and the need for a strong government mandate with the narrative of “vote for who can protect your lives, jobs and future”, the PAP actually turned away voters.

The younger generation wants to see fair-play elections and will no longer tolerate old-school political tactics. The slogan by the opposition of being the “check and balance” voice in parliament and denying the PAP a “blank cheque” clearly captured the hearts of many Singaporeans.