Party That Has Ruled Singapore Since Independence Wins Elections Again
Singapore’s Prime Minister and secretary general of the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) Lawrence Wong walks to the stage to deliver his victory speech after the preliminary results of the general elections were announced in Singapore. Photo: EFE/EPA/HOW HWEE YOUNG
May 3, 2025 Hour: 2:18 pm
Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP), which has governed the island since its independence in 1965, won the general election this Saturday, adding almost 90% of the seats.
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According to the preliminary count released by the official newspaper The Straits Times, the party led by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong won 87 of the 97 parliamentary seats, four more than it obtained in 2020, while the opposition Workers’ Party repeated the 10 seats from 2020.
The PAP’s resounding victory in this semi-autocratic city-state was expected, so it only remains to be seen what percentage of votes the party obtained, which has been dragging a downward trend – it achieved 61% in 2020 compared to 75% fifteen years earlier.
Analysts point out that falling below 60% would be considered almost a failure for the party, which would have to reinvent itself after decades of success based on economic openness and the curtailment of freedoms.
The increase of four seats in today’s elections was facilitated after the number of deputies in Parliament was increased from 93 to 97.
These elections were considered more of a plebiscite on the leadership of Wong, a 52-year-old economist who took over the country in May 2024 replacing Lee Hsien Loong – son of Lee Kuan Yew, founder of modern Singapore – after his resignation.
These votes have differed from others in that it was the first time that a candidate from the Lee dynasty, the architect of the radical transformation of the Asian city-state, did not compete.
A decade after the death of the country’s leader until 1990, the architect of the transformation of what was a fishing island into one of the countries with the highest GDP per capita in the world, none of his three children took over.
Wong then presented himself as a guarantor of stability in the face of the turbulence of the trade war, which particularly affects the exporting island, and called elections at an early date – the limit was November – before the possible impact on citizens of the effects of the tariffs announced by the US.
Author: ACJ
Source: EFE