SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Singapore’s People’s Action Party was on course on Saturday for a decisive victory for a 14th successive election, samples of official vote counts showed, as the party looked set to extend its unbroken six-decade rule of the city-state.
Samples of voting in 15 of the 32 constituencies being contested showed the PAP had won all but one of the races tracked, translating to more than a quarter of house seats.The vote count was ongoing and more sample counts were being released by the election commission.
The election was a bellwether of the popularity of the PAP, which has ruled since before Singapore’s 1965 independence, with attention on whether the opposition can challenge the ruling party’s tight grip on power and make further inroads after small but unprecedented gains in the last contest.
Though the PAP has consistently won in landslides with about 90% of seats, its share of the popular vote is closely watched as a measure of the strength of its mandate, with new premier Lawrence Wong keen to improve on the PAP’s 60.1% in the 2020 election – one of its worst performances on record.
A final result was expected in the early hours of Sunday. The early vote counts released by the election commission were from random samples of 100 votes taken in each polling station, with a 4% margin of error.
LOPSIDED CONTEST
Although a PAP defeat was extremely unlikely, some analysts have said the election could alter the political dynamic in the years ahead if the opposition can make more headway, with younger voters keen to see alternative voices, greater scrutiny and more robust debate.
But that could take time. Like previous elections, Saturday’s contest was a lopsided affair, with 46% of all candidates representing the PAP, which contested all 97 seats compared to 26 for its biggest rival, the Workers’ Party, which won 10 last time, the most by an opposition party.
The PAP has long had the upper hand, with a big membership to draw from, influence in state institutions and far greater resources than its untested opponents, which ran in only a small number of constituencies.
The PAP had five seats in the bag even before polling day, with no opponent in one multi-member constituency.
The Workers’ Party won in one constituency worth five seats, the early sample voting count showed.
The election was the PAP’s first under the leadership of Wong, 52, who became the Asian financial hub’s fourth prime minister last year, promising continuity, new blood and to lead the country of 6 million people his own way.
He took over at the end of the two-decade premiership of Lee Hsien Loong, the son of former leader Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore.
Living costs and housing availability in one of the world’s most expensive cities were key issues in Saturday’s election and remain a significant challenge for Wong, whose government has warned of recession if the trade-dependent economy becomes collateral damage in the war over steep U.S. tariffs.
The PAP was keen to avoid upsets and had warned voters of the consequences of seat losses for key cabinet members, whom Wong said were critical to balancing ties between the United States and China and navigating Singapore through potentially choppy economic waters.
(Reporting by Xinghui Kok, Jun Yuan Yong and Bing Hong Lok; Editing by Martin Petty)
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