PAP returned to power in 2006 Parliamentary Elections, Singapore

Sunday, May 7, 2006

Flag of Singapore

The incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) has retained its power in the Singapore parliament after getting 66.6% of the valid votes. It maintained 82 of the available 84 seats after securing 45 of the 47 contested seats, together with 37 of the seats that it won on Nomination Day on 26th April through walkovers. The opposition parties Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and Workers' Party (WP) also retained one seat each.

Despite having more seats contested in this election compared to the 2001 General Elections, the breakdown of seats remains unchanged from the previous election. However, the PAP only won a reduced majority, having only 66.6% of the valid votes compared to the 75% that it won in the previous election because of the spectre of terrorism and a poor economy then.

The PAP took all 7 contested Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) in Ang Mo Kio, Aljunied, East Coast, Jalan Besar, Tampines, Pasir Ris-Punggol and Sembawang, making up 38 of the seats. It also took seven of nine of the single seats in Bukit Panjang, Chua Chu Kang, Joo Chiat, MacPherson, Nee Soon Central, Nee Soon East and Yio Chu Kang.

Among the opposition parties, the WP had the best showing, taking 16.34% of the valid votes, which is an improvement over the 2.7% that in received in the previous election. In the Hougang ward, the incumbent Low Thia Khiang of the WP took 13,987 (62.74%) of the votes, defeating Eric Low Siak Meng of the PAP who only managed 8,306 (37.26%) of the votes while the remaining 277 votes were voided. The opposition win in Hougang is a big disappointment for PAP, which had dangled a carrot of some S$100 million in housing upgrading grants.

Despite losing all of its GRC contests, its best performance was in the controversial and hotly-contested Aljunied, where it took 43.9% of the votes against George Yeo's PAP team who won 56.08% of the votes. Just a few days before, James Gomez of the WP was heavily criticised by the PAP for a non-submission of a certificate proving of his status as a minority. It then became a heavily debated issue in the campaigning until the PAP decided that it should move on to more important issues. Opposition position poster girl Sylvia Lim of the WP Aljunied team seems to be the most likely to be appointed as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) as she got the highest non-winning number of votes.

Chiam See Tong of the SDA beat PAP's Sitoh Yih Pin in the Potong Pasir ward with a margin of 8,242 (55.84%) over 6,518 (44.16%) votes. The remaining 186 of the votes were voided. This is an improvement over the previous election where he only won 52.4% of the votes. However, they did not manage to win any other seats. They received more than 30 percent votes for the seats that they did not win.

Contrary to the performance of the other opposition parties, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) performed poorly in this election compared to the previous election. It lost all the 7 seats that it contested and only received 4.06% of the valid votes compared to 8.1% in 2001. SDP blamed the losses on the ban of political podcasts. SDP also alleged that the media waged a relentless campaign against it and that the lawsuit against it by the PAP prevented it from raising the issue involving the National Kidney Foundation scandal.

Election Results

Seats by party

Party Total seats
contested
Seats returned
unopposed
Seats won
PAP   84 37 82
SDA   20 0 1
SDP   7 0 0
WP   20 0 1

Votes by party

Party Total votes % of valid votes +/- %
PAP   747,860 66.60 -8.69
SDA   145,902 12.99 +0.96
SDP   45,634 4.06 -4.04
WP   183,604 16.34 +13.30

Full results

Results of Singapore general election, 2006 edit
Division Seats Voters Party Candidate(s) Votes Votes %
Group Representation Constituency (GRC)
Aljunied GRC 5 145,099 PAP   Cynthia Phua
George Yeo Yong-Boon
Lim Hwee Hua
Yeo Guat Kwang
Zainul Abidin Bin Mohamed Rasheed
74,810 56.08
WP   Goh Meng Seng
James Gomez
Lim Swee Lian Sylvia
Mohammed Rahizan Bin Yaacob
Tan Wui-Hua
58,585 43.92
Ang Mo Kio GRC 6 159,838 PAP   Inderjit Singh
Lam Pin Min
Lee Bee Wah
Lee Hsien Loong
Sadasivan Balaji
Wee Siew Kim
96,591 66.13
WP   Abdul Salim Bin Harun
Gopal Krishnan
Han Su May
Lee Wai Leng
Tan Kian Hwee Melvin
Yaw Shin Leong
49,468 33.87
Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC 5 115,303 PAP   Hri Kumar Sangaran
Ng Eng Hen
Wong Kan Seng
Yong Li Min Josephine Teo
Zainudin Bin Nordin
Walkover Walkover
East Coast GRC 5 116,611 PAP   Abdullah Tarmugi
Shanmugam Jayakumar
Jessica Tan Soon Neo
Lee Yi Shyan
Raymond Lim Siang Keat
66,890 63.85
WP   Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman
Brandon Siow Wei-Min
Chia Ti Lik
Eric Tan Heng Chong
Perry Tong Tzee Kwang
37,867 36.15
Holland-Bukit Timah GRC 5 118,092 PAP   De Souza Christopher J
Foo Yee Shoon
Liang Eng Hwa
Lim Swee Say
Vivian Balakrishnan
Walkover Walkover
Hong Kah GRC 5 144,609 PAP   Amy Khor Lean Suan
Ang Mong Seng
Yeo Cheow Tong
Yeo Khirn Hai Alvin
Zaqy B Mohamad
Walkover Walkover
Jalan Besar GRC 5 92,963 PAP   Denise Phua Lay Peng
Heng Chee How
Lee Boon Yang
Lily Neo
Yaacob Ibrahim
58,898 68.26
SDA   Cheo Chai Chen
Fong Chin Leong, Reno
Muhamad Ali Aman
Sebastian Teo Kway Hwang
Vincent Yeo Boon Keng
26,146 30.74
Jurong GRC 5 116,573 PAP   Grace Fu Hai Yien
Halimah Bte Yacob
Lim Boon Heng
Ong Chit Chung
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Walkover Walkover
Marine Parade GRC 6 155,106 PAP   Fatimah Lateef
Goh Chok Tong
Lim Biow Chuan
Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim
Ong Seh Hong
Seah Kian Peng
Walkover Walkover
Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC 6 178,393 PAP   Ahmad Bin Mohd Magad
Charles Chong You Fook
Michael Anthony Palmer
Penny Low
Teo Chee Hean
Teo Ser Luck
113,271 68.70
SDA   Ishak Bin Haroun
Lim Bak Chuan, Desmond
Lineker Lee Hock Huat
Mohd Hamim Bin Aliyas
Ong Beng Soon, Elvin
Yen Kim Khooi
51,610 31.30
Sembawang GRC 6 184,752 PAP   Ellen Lee Geck Hoon
Hawazi Daipi
K Shanmugam
Khaw Boon Wan
Lim Wee Kiak
Mohd Maliki Osman
130,142 76.70
SDP   Chee Siok Chin
Christopher Neo Ting Wei
Francis Yong Chu Leong
Gerald Sng Choon Guan
Mohd Isa Abdul Aziz
Narayanasamy Gogelavany
39,534 23.30
Tampines GRC 5 126,078 PAP   Mah Bow Tan
Masagos Zulkifli Bin Masagos Mohamad
Ng Phek Hoong, Irene
Ong Kian Min
Sin Boon Ann
80,356 68.51
SDA   Abdul Rahman Mohamad
Lim Tung Hee, Arthero
Ng Say Eng
Ong Hock Siong
Tan Lead Shake
36,942 31.49
Tanjong Pagar GRC 6 148,095 PAP   Baey Yam Keng
Indranee Thurai Rajah
Koo Tsai Kee
Lee Kuan Yew
Lui Tuck Yew
Tan Chin Siong
Walkover Walkover
West Coast GRC 5 137,685 PAP   Fong Jen Arthur
Foo Chee Keng Cederic
Ho Geok Choo Madeleine
Iswaran S
Lim Hng Kiang
Walkover Walkover
Single Member Constituency (SMC)
Bukit Panjang SMC 1 30,448 PAP   Teo Ho Pin 21,647 77.18
SDP   Ling How Doong 6,400 22.82
Chua Chu Kang SMC 1 24,959 PAP   Gan Kim Yong 14,151 60.37
SDA   Steve Chia Kiah Hong 9,290 39.63
Hougang SMC 1 23,741 PAP   Eric Low Siak Meng 8,306 37.26
WP   Low Thia Khiang 13,987 62.74
Joo Chiat SMC 1 21,828 PAP   Chan Soo Sen 12,222 65.01
WP   Tan Bing Seng 6,577 34.99
MacPherson SMC 1 21,026 PAP   Matthias Yao 13,182 68.28
SDA   Sin Kek Tong 6,067 31.52
Nee Soon Central SMC 1 23,135 PAP   Ong Ah Heng 14,210 65.37
WP   Lian Chin Way 7,587 34.63
Nee Soon East SMC 1 32,569 PAP   Ho Peng Kee 20,945 68.72
WP   Poh Lee Guan 9,533 31.28
Potong Pasir SMC 1 15,864 PAP   Sitoh Yih Pin 6,518 44.16
SDA   Chiam See Tong 8,542 55.84
Yio Chu Kang SMC 1 25,073 PAP   Seng Han Thong 15,721 68.27
SDA   Yip Yew Weng 7,305 31.73

Sources