Singapore general election: PAP projected to seal landslide victory, extend its six-decade rule

The People’s Action Party, which has long ruled Singapore, is on its way to seal another landslide victory as results for the general election in the country were about to be declared.

A sample count of votes released by the Election Department in Singapore on Saturday projects a decisive victory for a 14th successive election.

A final result was expected in the early hours of Sunday. The early vote count samples had a 4 per cent margin of error, the election commission said.

With the impending Singapore election victory in sight, the PAP is set to extend its unbroken six-decade rule in the country.

The sample voting of 32 constituencies showed that the party had won in all except three races. This translates to PAP getting 87 of the 97 parliamentary seats, after already having won five seats in a walkover.

The Singapore general election 2025 yet again established PAP's popularity as a party, after having ruled since before the country's 1965 independence.

The main opposition Workers' Party looked set to win 10 seats, the same number as the last election, which was the most by any opposition party in the upscale city-state.

Though the PAP has consistently won in landslides with about 90 per cent of seats, its share of the popular vote is closely watched as a measure of the strength of its mandate, with new premier Lawrence Wong keen to improve on the PAP's 60.1% in the 2020 election - one of its worst performances on record.

PAP's first election under Lawrence Wong

The election was the PAP's first under the leadership of Wong, 52, who became Singapore's fourth prime minister last year, promising continuity, new blood and to lead the country of six million people his own way.

He took over at the end of the two-decade premiership of Lee Hsien Loong, the son of former leader Lee Kuan Yew, the founder of modern Singapore.

In many races, the PAP's wins were big, the sample counting showed, with only three of the contests close and within the margin of error.

"It's not just status quo, it's also the margin of victory in each of the constituencies, and you can see that the numbers are quite remarkable," said Mustafa Izzuddin, adjunct senior lecturer at National University of Singapore.

"That certainly points, at this juncture, to a healthy and strong mandate for the prime minister."

Although a PAP defeat was always extremely unlikely, some analysts had said the election could have altered the political dynamic in the years ahead if the opposition made more headway.

(With Reuters inputs)