Singapore’s long-ruling party yesterday retained power, but its support fell sharply, while the opposition made gains, in a general election held under the shadow of a COVID-19 outbreak.
Voters put on masks and gloves and had to observe social distancing rules during a poll held as the city-state emerges from a lengthy lockdown.
Singapore has seen large virus outbreaks in dormitories housing low-paid foreign workers, but with new infections slowing and authorities easing a partial lockdown, the government pushed ahead with the poll.
Photo: AFP
The People’s Action Party (PAP), which has ruled Singapore for six decades, was always assured of victory, and won 83 of 93 parliamentary seats up for grabs and 61.2 percent of the popular vote.
However, that was pointedly down from the nearly 70 percent of the vote it won in the country’s last election in 2015, while the opposition Workers’ Party picked up 10 seats — its best-ever showing at an election.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍), visibly disappointed, said the “percentage of the popular vote is not as high as I had hoped.”
“The results reflect the pain and uncertainty that Singaporeans feel in this crisis — the loss of income, the anxiety about jobs,” he told a news conference. “This was not a feel-good election.”
Singapore has been hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and is forecast to be heading for its worst recession since independence in 1965. The PAP’s share of the popular vote was close to its lowest ever level of 60.1 percent in the 2011 election.
Yet for the Workers’ Party, which previously held just six seats, the results felt like a victory. Raucous celebrations erupted in one of the party’s strongholds, with people cheering and waving flags.
“I’m very grateful to all the voters, I’m also very humbled,” party leader Pritam Singh said. “I think there’s a lot of work to do.”
Commentators said the ruling party’s support might also have been dented by a desire for change among the young.
“Younger voters wanted their voices to be heard in a more significant way,” Eugene Tan (陳慶文), political analyst and associate professor of law at Singapore Management University, told broadcaster Channel News Asia. “One-party governance may not go down so well with them in this age and time.”
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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