Council wins reliable victory in Singapore vote, opposition keeps companies | Political News

The People's Action Party has always faced the unanimous challenges of the Workers' Party.

Singapore’s long-standing People’s Action Party (PAP) appears to maintain a strong hold of power after city-state elections, but early voting samples suggest that Workers’ Party (WP) can maintain its stance, challenging PAP’s dominance in several key areas.

Sample counts released by the election department on Saturday showed that 29 Paps had about 87 out of the 32 controversial constituencies, including five undisputed security.

The final statistics are expected by early Sunday.

While a comfortable victory for the PAP is expected, the real test is how much support it can retain, especially under the leadership of newly appointed Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Since independence from Malaysia in 1965, the party's performance when it won over 60% of the vote in 2020 is one of its weakest performances.

Wong, who took office last year, ran for a commitment to continuity and new leadership, hoping to support the increasing public attention on the cost of living and housing shortages in one of the most expensive places in the world.

Singapore's most reliable opposition force, WP, competes for 26 seats and is expected to win 10 seats in 2020, an unprecedented figure in any opposition party in the city-state.

Analysts say that while the PAP's domination continues, WP's ability to maintain or grow its share slightly will undergo a shift in political sentiment, especially among young voters.

Saturday’s vote marked the first national test for Wong, 52, who succeeded Lee Hsien Loong, son of Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Sample counts show that in many games, PAP's wins were huge, with only three games over, within the wrong range.

“It's not only the status quo, but the room for victory for each constituency, and you can see these numbers are excellent,” said Mustafa Izzuddin, part-time senior lecturer at the National University of Singapore.

“It certainly means that this is a healthy and powerful task for the Prime Minister,” Izzuddin added.

Prior to independence in 1965, those in power have still benefited from a wide range of institutional coverage and resources, while the opposition struggled with limited coverage and funding.

Government officials warn that losing a seat could undermine Singapore's ability to become instable in global economically, especially in the ongoing U.S.-China tensions.