SINGAPORE - A day after the General Election, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said his immediate priority was to form the Cabinet and to get the new Government running.

"We need to form a new Cabinet because we have new faces now, we have one or two retirees, and that's what I'll be doing over the next two weeks," he told reporters at the end of his victory parade in Ang Mo Kio GRC on Saturday (Sept 12), where he thanked residents and activists.

Asked about the qualities he is looking for in the next Transport Minister, an empty spot to be filled since Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew resigned before the election, Mr Lee said the person has to have technical knowledge about systems, trains and buses, and how to keep them running efficiently.

At the same time, said Mr Lee, he or she has to communicate with people and get them to understand and accept why fares have to go up from time to time, and what the Government is doing about service breakdowns.

He added that Singapore is reaping the fruits of work done by previous transport ministers today. "Mr Lui Tuck Yew has done a good job over the last four years," he said, and some of the results of his efforts are showing now, but others will not become apparent for years to come.

"It's a very demanding job but I will find somebody," he said, adding that he had not decided on the person yet.

Mr Lee said that he received a very warm response from the residents he encountered across all the wards within Ang Mo Kio GRC, where he and his team got 78.6 per cent of the vote against a Reform Party team.

At his final stop outside Ang Mo Kio Market and Food Centre at Avenue 10, he and his five team mates were greeted by a lion dance troupe and surrounded by residents wanting to take photographs with them.