Paying heed to a demanding electorate

ON Sept 11 Singapore held its General Election (GE15) amidst a haze that clouded the sky. But while the skies on Polling Day may have been cloudy, the verdict of Singaporeans was clear. The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) received an overwhelming mandate for another five years. It won 83 out of 89 seats and increased its share of votes from 60.14 per cent in 2011 to 69.86 per cent, an increase of nearly 15 per cent.

Before the election, political pundits were near unanimous that PAP would lose a few more seats and its percentage of the popular vote would decline.

In 2001, the PAP received 75.3 per cent of popular votes. This declined to 66.6 per cent in 2006 and further to 60.1 per cent in 2011. During the 2011 presidential election, the PAP-endorsed candidate won by less than 0.5 per cent of the votes cast. PAP further lost by-elections in Hougang in 2012, and in Punggol East in 2013. Thus, po…