Singapore
Reuters
–
Singapore’s People’s Action Party won its 14th consecutive election on Saturday, extending the unbroken six-year rule and conveying a strong mandate to the new prime minister as a city-state equipment for economic disruption from the World Trade War.
The PAP, which has been ruling before Singapore’s 1965 independence, won 87 seats out of 97 parliaments, winning large margins in many of its 33 constituencies, failing to expand its profits in previous contests.
The election was a breath of popular morals amidst signs of disillusionment, where six million people were in power in the Asian financial hub, where no other kind of government was known.
The PAP has consistently won around 90% of its seats, but its share of the popularity poll has been closely monitored as a measure of the strength of its mission, with Prime Minister Lawrence Won wanting to leave a mark in his first election after one of his worst performances on record.
The PAP has not yet been officially declared a winner, but local media said it accounted for 65.57% of the vote, surpassing the 61.2% achieved in the 2020 contest.
The result is considered public support for the squealing of Wong, 52, who was US-educated and became Singapore’s fourth prime minister last year.
He took over at the end of the two-year prime minister, Lee Hucien Long, son of former leader Lee Quang Yu, the founder of Modern Singapore.
Wong needs to deal with high living costs and housing shortages. The sustained problem in one of the world’s most expensive cities faces the risk of recession and unemployment if the trade-dependent economy was hit by a trade war caused by steep US tariffs.
Wong thanked his members and said, “We are once again grateful for your strong obligation. We respect that.”
PAP victory remains the status quo, but the margins of victory in most races are important, with opposing candidates winning more than two-thirds of the vote in 18 of 33 constituencies.
“Voters spoke, they voted for stability, continuity and certainty — and they voted to give Prime Minister Lawrence Wong a strong order,” said Mustafa Izudin, a senior assistant lecturer at the National University of Singapore.
The PAP defeat is always very unlikely, but some analysts have said that if the opposition party benefited more, the election could have changed political dynamics in the future.
But that may take time. Like the previous election, Saturday was a biased event, with 46% of all candidates representing the PAP.
The ruling party ran in all seats, but won 10 seats Pap didn’t win, compared to just 26 members of the Workers’ Party.
PAP has a larger membership that affects state agencies, influences state agencies, and has far greater resources than untested enemies.
Joshua Krulanzik, a senior fellow in Southeast Asia and South Asia at the Council of Foreign Relations, said Pap’s decisive victory fell on Singaporeans who support known amounts at times of uncertainty.
“It’s a flight to safety — I don’t want to turn into a new party amid the biggest global trade tension in decades,” he said.
“The same problem lies there, just because they’re rocks in times of trouble (it).
