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The Popular Action Party of Singapore won its 16th consecutive election on Saturday, increasing its share of the popular vote as an elector in the country dependent on trade supported stability in the face of the rise in geopolitical tensions.
The PAP – whose sequence of victories dates back to 1959 when Singapore was a British colony – obtained 87 seats out of 97 on results which were announced in the early hours of Sunday morning, including five undisputed seats.
Under Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, which was raised to this role a year ago, the party obtained 66% of the popular vote, more than 61% in the last elections in 2020 and its highest margin of victory for a decade.
This year’s elections were presented in the context of an escalation of the World Trade War, triggered by a package of prices announced by US President Donald Trump a month ago.
With the global commercial equivalent of Singapore to more than three times its GDP, the financial and commercial center – which plays a crucial role in the exchange of goods and services between China and the West – is considered particularly vulnerable to a slowdown in world trade.
“The results will put to Singapore in a better position to face this turbulent world,” said Wong in a speech at 3 o’clock in the morning in which he described the election as “clear signal of trust, stability and confidence”.
The election was considered a crucial test for Wong and the PAP, 52 years old, because it resembles a future beyond the Lee dynasty, which has dominated the Singaporean policy in the last seven decades and has supervised the transformation of the city of the city of a development nation in one of the richest in the world.
Wong succeeded Lee Hsien Loong, the son of the modern founder of the country, Lee Kuan Yew. Lee Hsien Loong, who retains an influential advice role in the government, has led the country for 20 years.
As with the recent elections in Canada and Australia, the outgoing president has performed well in increasing geopolitical uncertainty.
Singapore has reduced its growth forecasts for the year from 1 to 3% to 0 to 2% on the prospect of a disturbance in global trade and warned against a possible recession.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio congratulated Wong and the PAP for their victory, adding: “For almost 60 years, the United States and Singapore shared a solid and sustainable strategic partnership and a commitment to a safe, free and prosperous Indo-Pacific region.”
The workers’ party, the main opposition group, has won 10 seats as five years ago, but will receive two other seats supposedly non-constitutive due to the proximity that it has executed the PAP in certain constituencies.
Pritam Singh, head of the workers’ party, admitted that it was a difficult campaign, before he was found guilty of lying in Parliament in a case he disputes.
“The slate is wiped, we start working again tomorrow, and we leave,” he said.
