come, read newspaper time.
PM gets his strong mandate
S'poreans give him clear vote of confidence
with 66.6% margin; opposition retains Hougang, Potong Pasir
By Zuraidah Ibrahim
POLITICAL EDITOR
SINGAPOREANS yesterday gave Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong a clear
vote of confidence for his new team and programme, denying the
opposition more seats despite the strongest challenge it had
mounted in 18 years.
The People's Action Party's share of the popular vote fell 8.7
points from its exceptionally high 2001 level, to 66.6 per
cent.
While the smaller margin was in line with expectations, the showing
was creditably better than its 1997 victory of 65 per cent.
At a 2am press conference, Mr Lee thanked voters for a 'very strong
mandate'.
'The support has come from all communities across all races. And we
will do our best to serve you, work with you, so that we can
achieve our vision for Singapore,' said a calm and composed-looking
Mr Lee, 54, who led his first election as secretary-general.
The PAP was denied a clean sweep but the opposition's appeal for a
breakthrough win in a Group Representation Constituency or GRC was
also denied.
The verdict of 1.15 million Singaporeans: Two is enough.
Opposition veterans Chiam See Tong and Low Thia Khiang held onto
their respective wards of Potong Pasir and Hougang, which rebuffed
the PAP's inducement of multi-million-dollar upgrading packages and
Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong's personal appeals.
Mr Low, 49, not only succeeded in defending his seat for a fourth
term but also improved his margin by seven points, garnering 62.7
per cent of the votes.
It is his best showing since he was first elected in 1991, further
entrenching him in his ward and firmly securing his leadership of
the Workers' Party well into the future.
In Potong Pasir, where people poured onto the streets to chant his
name last night, 71-year-old Mr Chiam proved age was no barrier to
getting elected for the sixth time. Despite a neck-and-neck race,
the warhorse sped ahead at the finish and was garlanded with 55.8
per cent of the votes.
A gracious PM Lee said the verdict showed the two men were
'credible people' with 'standing on the ground'.
In the closely watched contest for Aljunied GRC, WP chairman Sylvia
Lim and her 'Team A' secured 43.9 per cent of the votes from the
incumbents led by Foreign Minister George Yeo. It is likely that as
the top opposition performers, the WP team will be invited to
select one among them to serve as a Non-Constituency MP.
The 82-2 scoreline, preserving the status quo in Parliament, may go
down as an apt end to a nine-day campaign that never quite caught
fire and which many described as relatively issueless.
PM Lee called for the elections only after he was convinced that
Singaporeans had had time to get to know him and to digest his many
new programmes, especially those designed to alleviate the pains of
economic restructuring, such as the Workfare scheme.
The most controversial issues of the past two years, the National
Kidney Foundation scandal and the great casino debate, had also
received a thorough airing before polls were called.
Mr Lee's 20-month buffer between becoming Prime Minister and asking
for a mandate contrasts with the mere nine-month gap that Mr Goh
gave himself after getting the top job in 1990.
The PAP lost four seats and claimed just 61 per cent of the popular
vote in the 1991 polls.
PM Lee's maiden GE performance even surpasses that of Mr Lee Kuan
Yew, who, when he went into election for the first time as Prime
Minister, won 37 out of 51 seats.
As expected, the PAP did not score anywhere near its 75 per cent
share in 2001, widely seen as a one-off outcome, due to anxiety
about terrorism and recession.
This year's showing of 66.6 per cent appears to be a new
equilibrium in the relationship that Singaporeans seem to have
reached with the ruling party.
Since the party's complete monopoly was broken in 1984, when there
was a 12.9 percentage point swing against it, the PAP had managed
scores of only in the early 60s until it was bested by Mr Goh in
1997 at 65 per cent.
Given that those born after 1965 make up 40 per cent of voters, it
shows the PAP continues to be the party of choice across all
generations, assuaging fears that younger voters might choose to
distance themselves from it.
What is clear too is that voters want a more credible opposition.
Hence, the Workers' Party, with a more presentable slate, emerged
as the top dog in the camp, collecting an average of 38.4 per cent
of the votes where it contested. Mr Low promised of more to come,
declaring: 'The renewal process of the Workers' Party is on
track.'
What the WP, as well as the PAP, may have to reckon with though,
are the changing expectations of younger voters.
PM Lee gave the best tip yet for both sides, when he said this
morning: 'The key is to keep in touch with the changing
demographics.'
