PAP returned to power in 2006 Parliamentary Elections, Singapore

Sunday, May 7, 2006 

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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
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

• "Singapore's PAP returned to power with 66.6% of valid votes" — Channel NewsAsia, May 7, 2006
• "Observers say 66% mandate is comfortable ground for PAP and PM" — Channel NewsAsia, May 7, 2006
• "SDA retains Chiam's Potong Pasir ward, fails to gain other seats" — Channel NewsAsia, May 7, 2006
• "WP wins Hougang, loses contests in 3 GRCs and 3 SMEs" — Channel NewsAsia, May 7, 2006
• "SDP says poor results due to "undemocratic" elections" — Channel NewsAsia, May 7, 2006
• "With election over, PM Lee calls on Singaporeans to close ranks" — Channel NewsAsia, May 7, 2006
• Gillian Wong. "Singapore's Ruling Party Wins Majority" — Guardian Unlimited, May 6, 2006
• Joceline Tan, Nelson Benjamin and Teh Eng Hock. "PAP sweeps back to power" — The Star, May 7, 2006
• Seah Chiang Nee. "Hsien Loong's mandate" — Little Speck, May 7, 2006