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Asia Pacific|In Singapore’s Election, All Eyes Are on the Margin of Victory, Not the Winner
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/02/world/asia/singapore-election-pap-workers.html
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The People’s Action Party is widely expected to continue its six-decade reign. But discontent with its policies is fueling a growing opposition.
May 2, 2025, 8:00 p.m. ET
Like the last time Singapore held elections, it is in the throes of a global crisis.
Five years ago, the governing party portrayed itself as the steady hand to guide the nation through the coronavirus pandemic. The pitch is the same this time, as President Trump upends the world’s trade order.
And, like last time, there is no doubt that the People’s Action Party, which has been in power since 1959, will retain power. But Saturday’s election will be a test of the popularity of the P.A.P., which had its second-worst showing in 2020, even as it garnered a clear majority. It was growing evidence of a desire for a competitive democracy in the city-state.
Now many political analysts agree that the opposition is gaining clout in Singapore. Many voters are unhappy with the P.A.P.’s response to the rising cost of living. During the campaign, rallies for the country’s main opposition party, the Workers’ Party, were packed, and its merchandise sold out. Still, Pritam Singh, the party’s leader, took pains to assure the public that his party was not contesting enough seats to form a government but added that Singapore needed a more balanced political system.
“When you have opposition in Parliament, your alternative voice is heard by the government,” Mr. Singh said at his party’s first rally last week.
“We must be active participants in our democracy,” he added.
The election could also end up being a referendum for change: Prime Minister Lawrence Wong took office last year after the two-decade tenure of Lee Hsien Loong, a son of Singapore’s founding father. Mr. Wong has said that navigating the trade war and U.S.-China tensions “will take people in government who have built up trust and close relationships with their counterparts in both America and China.”
He reiterated the same argument that his party has made for decades: that the P.A.P. has a track record of delivering stability and prosperity to this nation of nearly six million, one of the world’s richest per capita.
