Singapore's PAP scores landslide, again

The People's Party, which has ruled Singapore since it became a country 50 years ago, was returned to power for five more years with a crushing majority, according to early results on Saturday.

Official results from Friday's vote showed that - having won almost 70 percent of the vote - the party had won a majority of up to 83 seats in the 89-member parliament. Although there had been no doubt that the PAP would win, the result represents a turnaround from the election of 2011. In a record low that year, the party could only muster 60.1 percent of the national vote.

National figures were not immediately available for the vote share achieved by each party early on Saturday. However, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong won 79 percent of the votes cast in his own district, up from 69 percent in 2011.

Wave of national fervor

The result strengthens the mandate of both the party and Lee, as the country experiences an economic slowdown. Lee thanked his supporters for giving "us this very good result."

"We are very grateful, we are very happy, but at the same time, we are very humbled by the result," said Lee. "Tomorrow will be better than today."

While immigration, public transport, the rising cost of living, and a slowing economy have all figured as key issues in the pre-election debate, the national mood was very much in the ruling party's favor.

Lee's win came six months after the death of his father, beloved independence leader Lee Kuan Yew. The late leader's death plunged Singapore into mourning and generated a wave of patriotism - which analysts said benefitted the PAP.

"Our polling all year showed likelihood of PAP bouncing back," David Black, managing director of local research firm Blackbox, told the AFP news agency. "The only surprise was the extent of it," said.

Few inroads for opponents

For many years after independence in 1965, the PAP won every seat in parliament under the island nation's first-past-the-post system. Opposition parties only began to take seats from 1981 onwards, with the Worker's Party winning six seats in 2011, plus another that it clinched in a by-election.

The PAP presided over the former British colonial outpost in its transition from a backward trading port city to a thriving commercial metropolis during a single generation. During that time, the party was criticized for jailing dissidents and using defamation suits to stifle opposition.

Some 2.46 million people out of a population of 5.47 million were eligible to vote, an increase from 2.35 million in 2011.

rc/bw (dpa, AFP, AP, Reuters)