Commentary
GE2025: Trump fears, unrivalled ‘ground game’ hand PAP the mandate it wanted
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
PAP supporters cheering at Bukit Gombak Stadium early on May 4.
ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
Follow topic:
Follow our live coverage here.
Mr Donald Trump’s chaotic presidency has wreaked havoc on global governance since he took office – but this week, three incumbent governments are quietly grateful for how he focused their voters’ minds.
Among them: Singapore’s PAP, led by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who pitched himself and his lieutenants as the steady hands needed for uncertain times. Voters listened intently. Such has been the torrent of chaotic headlines emanating from Washington that, like their Canadian and Australian counterparts, Singaporeans opted for the familiar party they felt they could repose their trust in.
The message – that now is not the time for political experimentation – resonated powerfully, materialising in election results best characterised as total dominance for the PAP.
The magnitude of victory bears no resemblance to some forecasts that this election would mark a watershed moment in Singapore’s political evolution, with voters embracing the opposition’s argument that stronger parliamentary representation serves the national interest.
Instead, we witness PM Wong, for whom this vote constituted a referendum on his leadership style and Forward Singapore agenda, securing a mandate
Save for battles with the Workers’ Party and Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan’s surprisingly robust performance against the PAP’s Ms Poh Li San in Sembawang West SMC, the outcome was overwhelming. Lesser-known parties, even the more established ones like the Progress Singapore Party, received a drubbing
To be clear, the country didn’t forsake its second-biggest political force, the WP.
The party’s respectable showing – retaining its existing 10 seats while mounting credible challenges elsewhere – demonstrated enduring support for opposition voices.
The WP will also have two new NCMPs in Parliament, with Jalan Kayu SMC candidate Andre Low and a candidate from Tampines GRC to be offered the two available NCMP seats.
Nuance in Trump effect
Naturally, Mr Trump’s influence manifested differently across these three contests. In Canada, the chaos turned the contest on its head as Mr Trump took to directly threatening and trying to bully his country’s closest neighbour.
Voters backed Mr Mark Carney’s seasoned financial expertise and approved of the way he stood up to Mr Trump. In contrast, challenger Pierre Poilievre, whose party enjoyed a 27-point polling lead before the Trump tornado hit, saw this advantage evaporate and even ended up losing his own seat.
Australia chose Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s proven experience over the untested Peter Dutton, who also lost his seat in the process.
In Singapore’s case, Mr Trump’s threat to the world order made voters reflect soberly on the choices before them, though crediting him for the PAP’s crushing victory would be stretching it.
As PAP activists put it to this columnist, the strong results must be attributed mainly to continued efforts to work the ground – elections here, they say, are won through addressing constituents’ daily concerns, and establishing reputations as consistent deliverers on municipal matters, not merely orators.
One example offered was the PAP’s Mr Liang Eng Hwa, whose “ground game” in Bukit Panjang SMC includes greeting residents at bus stops early in the morning, and a $1 meal initiative lampooned by his opponent, SDP’s Dr Paul Tambyah, during the hustings, but which is immensely popular.
While consistent municipal performance laid the groundwork, Mr Trump’s tumult likely enhanced the vote share.
The PAP’s campaign formula – framing PM Wong and his Covid-veteran lieutenants like “Task Force Man”, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, as steady hands for turbulent times – proved, in retrospect, masterfully executed.
The PAP laser-focused on middle-class worries: living costs, housing, and defending its GST approach against opposition attacks. PM Wong embodied this relentless consistency, hammering these economic themes from rallies to doorstop remarks, to his sole campaign interview on the Yah Lah But podcast.
While the issue of foreign interference and questions of whether race and religion were being brought into politics were also discussed, it was the PAP’s economic messaging that struck deepest, cementing this landslide mandate.
Two-party system?
The results also bear scrutiny from the opposition’s standpoint. If there was any doubt that the Singaporean voter is savvy and sophisticated, just look at the poorest performers.
The National Solidarity Party, with a frankly indiscernible platform, and the People’s Alliance for Reform led by Mr Lim Tean – discernible, but mainly for its insularity – were given severe indictments.
The Progress Singapore Party, too, middling in campaigning and messaging, received a drubbing that all but confirms its 2020 performance was a flash in the pan. The party may blame the redrawing of boundaries in the old West Coast GRC for its poor performance – and that is fair enough, perhaps – but still, it severely underperformed. The others, Red Dot United, Singapore People’s Party and their ilk, barely made a splash.
Naturally, the WP will be disappointed. Having drawn tens of thousands to rallies, and fielding candidates who seemed, on paper, close to the calibre of the median PAP candidate, it could not secure the breakthrough it had hoped for.
When this columnist asked WP chief Pritam Singh on the last day of campaigning what would constitute success, he said it was too hard to tell – that the ground was hard to read, and that ultimately the party would accept the people’s verdict.
With its number of elected MPs unchanged at 10, its share of elected parliamentary seats will dip in the new 97-seat Parliament to 10.3 per cent, from 10.8 per cent in the last 93-seat legislature.
Yet the big result for the WP this time is winning Sengkang GRC again
It means the party is now decisively the second-biggest political force in the country, with a solid base. Talk of an “opposition wipeout”, absent this time, will be history from now on. And it can and should continue building out what it hopes to be, which is not without resonance among many Singaporeans, even PAP-leaning ones: a respectable, responsible opposition that is a force for good, rather than obstructionist.
‘Never settle’ ethos
In the coming days and weeks, all eyes will turn to how the PAP and PM Wong interpret this resounding mandate – and how they wield it.
They’ve already identified what they see as urgent business: with the Trumpian upending showing no signs of abating, intensified trade negotiations loom with our closest neighbours, along with strengthening FTA networks farther afield. Maintaining Singapore’s position with the most comprehensive web of trade agreements remains critical in an increasingly fragmented global economy.
At home, one assumes the Prime Minister’s signature Forward Singapore initiative
National unity, touted as Singapore’s ultimate weapon, will continue to be vital in the years to come. The PAP, five years from equalling Mexico’s PRI for having 71 years of uninterrupted rule, needs no reminder that a strong mandate must never breed complacency. The desire to hear new voices is real, and more must be encouraged to get involved in civic life.
It is indeed a chance to entrench in Singapore the ethos PM Wong articulated in his swearing-in speech in 2024
Bhavan Jaipragas is deputy opinion editor and a columnist at The Straits Times.
