THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE
OF SINGAPORE
AFTER THE ELECTION
OF MAY 7, 2011
PRIME MINISTER OF SINGAPORE
The commentary after the elections in Singapore last Saturday, May 7, made it sound almost as though the ruling PAP (People's Action Party) had lost while winning sixty percent of the vote and eighty-one out of eighty-seven parliamentary seats.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong himself called it a "watershed" election; his Foreign Minister, George Yeo, lost his seat; "the opposition Workers’ Party won a multiple-seat district for the first time," and the opposition won four more seats overall than it had in the last parliament.
The decline in the popular vote for PAP, from seventy-five percent in 2001 and sixty-seven percent in 2006, to the current sixty percent (a landslide in the U.S.), seems to be another of the reasons for P.M. Lee's analysis that "This election marks a distinct shift in our political landscape which all of us must adjust to," adding that even "some of those who voted for us, clearly expressed their significant concerns both on the issues and our approach to government."
Now, according to Lee, there would be a period of "soul searching" for this ruling party in an almost one-party system in this city-state that pulled itself from third world to first world country in one generation. Ahead of the election, his father, Lee Kuan Yew, first post-independence leader of Singapore, and still "Minister Mentor," delivered "stern warnings" to Singaporeans that "there could be 'consequences' if they voted for the Workers' Party."
More about Prime Minister Lee here
More analysis of the election, the issues, and the underlying trends
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