The recent Singapore General Elections 2015 (GE2015) was concluded on 11 September 2015 with the ruling political party, People's Action Party (PAP), winning in a landslide with 69.86% of votes, probably the best showing since 2001. This means that PAP won 83 seats and recaptured Punggol East SMC while the Workers’ Party retained Aljunied GRC and Hougang SMC with reduced margins.
More than 2 million Singaporeans voted in the country’s 12th General Election on 11 September 2015 which was declared a Public Holiday. All the seats in Parliament were contested for the first time since Singapore’s independence in 1965. There are a total of 89 seats in 29 constituencies.
This General Elections also saw the highest number of opposition political parties contesting--the Workers' Party, National Solidarity Party, Singapore Democratic Party, Reform Party, Singaporeans First, Singapore People's Party, Singapore Democratic Alliance and People's Power Party – as well as two independents.
The ruling party received more than 70 per cent of the vote share in 15 out of the 29 electoral divisions – with Jurong GRC (79.28 per cent), Ang Mo Kio GRC (78.63 per cent) and West Coast GRC (78.57 per cent) the top three performers.
The WP retained Aljunied GRC with a narrow 50.95 per cent of the votes. It also successfully defended Hougang SMC with 57.69 per cent of the votes, a dip from its 2012 by-election result of 62.1 per cent.
An Unexpected National Swing Towards PAP
Not many political watchers would have predicted such a comfortable win by the PAP. In fact, myself included, we would have guessed an improved performance from the poor showing of 60.14 per cent share of the overall votes in 2011, to perhaps an average of 5 per cent share improvement.
PAP has surprised the majority of Singaporeans with the overall 69.86 per cent share of the General Elections 2015. It was the highest popular vote garnered since the landslide victory of 75.3 per cent in 2001. However, we must not forget that only one third of the voters were eligible to cast their votes due to walkers where there was an insufficient opposition parties to contest in the constituencies.
This time round, however, it was different. All 89 seats in the Parliament was being contested. Eight opposition parties went all out to contest and field around 89 candidates, with the Workers' Party fielding the most at 28 candidates.
Yet with an increased opposition fielding of opponents, albeit with less intense party rallies across the island, the PAP saw a marked improvement over their general performance.
Why is this so? Here are my personal observation and opinions on the "landslide win" on the General Elections 2015:
1. A Change of Approach
The last General Election in 2011 saw a surprisingly weak results for the PAP, and thereafter they seemed to have changed their approach and strategy. For example, Our Singapore Conversation was introduced to hear more of the ground voices. REACH was set up in similar fashion. Ministers of Parliament, including the Prime Minister, also began to more social media-friendly with regular posts on their Facebook accounts and more screen time discussions and conversations on the national televisions.
2. A Stalemate of Dissentment
At GE2011, the general public has dissatisfied with PAP over their policies and their stubborn stance to hear from the ground. The PAP's political approach seemed to have changed for the better and hence the mood of dissentment seemed to gradually dissipate after time. Had the opposition parties like Worker's Party changed their strategy and approach, we might have seen a different outcome.
3. A Strengthened PAP
Since GE2011, the PAP seemed to have revitalized itself with more capable people on board. Old guards such as Mah Bow Tan relinquished their portfolios with Khaw Boon Wan taking over the trouble housing problems. Lui Tuck Yew took over the Transport Ministry and turned things around, though it probably would not have been felt until years later. Tan Chuan-Jin and Chan Chun Sing seemed like capable senior ministers who could lead the country, while Tharman Shanmugaratnam proved to be a very wise and admirable Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister.
4. A Thinly-Spread and Weakened Opposition
After the first GRC (Group Representation Constituency) win in 2011, the Aljunied GRC managed by the Worker's Party faced criticism after it had been hit with a mismanagement and misappropriation of the funds by the Town Council. This dented the public confidence in the party, though some were more gracious to show their confidence that the WP would improve with time.
However, with so many oppositions fielding candidates contesting in all 89 seats, some wondered if the candidates were carefully selected and with the appropriate qualifications and right characters. With this, the strength of the opposition seems weakened and together with their approach and strategy to win the public's votes, the general public might have preferred to stick with status quo.
After all, the oppositions failed to convince the educated public of good, sound and credible policies as an alternative to the already-proven policies set by the PAP.
5. An Improved Performance
After the disappointing GE2011, policies were more inclusive and issues raised by the ground were addressed, such as the reduction of the ministerial salaries, housing availability and cost, transport infrastructure, a lack of hospitals, tightening of the intake of foreigners, etc.
Of course, the passing of the late Mr Lee Kuan Yew also rallied the nation together and brought people back to the realization of the vulnerability we faced. The SG50 was also a feel-good factor with how the government introduced the Pioneer Generation package which recognized the contributions of the last generation.
Perhaps, a well-informed public would also recognized the instability in the region and the global economy and hence they would have preferred a stable political government.
