You seem to have avoided the scenario of TJS not contesting. His 25% of the votes will only go to TCB and TKL, not just TKL alone and definitely not TT. Because TJS votes was 25% and as you said "respectable", and TCB needed only 1% to defeat TT, all TCB needed was just to get about 5% of TJS votes. So it cannot be said that TJS did not help pull votes away from TJS.
On the other hand if TCB did not contest, TCB's votes will mostly go to TT and some may go to TJS. But TT had 35% and TJS had 25%, a 10% difference. Even if TJS could get half of what TCB had, he will still not win.
Fallacious argument. No one knows what the percentages will be like BEFORE the PE. So all analyses are on hindsight POST-election.
On hindsight, we know that TCB needed 0.34% to win. Where should it come from? The weakest opponent! Show the election results to any independent observer, and ask him: who's the most unworthy candidate? who should have withdrawn?
Any neutral observer will say that the poorest performer, the one who lost his deposit, should have pulled out.
IF: the margin between TT and TCB is 30% (TT 35%, TCB 5%, TJS 25%, TKL 5%), then you may argue that TJS and TKL (combined 30%) should have made way for TCB. But in this case one could also argue that TCB and TKL (combined 10%) should have made way for TJS.
Can you see now? The blame for being a spoiler, especially in a narrowly fought battle, always falls on the
weakest, least credible contestant. If you can't even grasp this simple fact, there's no point arguing anymore. I have an easier time with the village idiots in this forum.
You also think WP is a PAP's opposition and that doesn't stop you from thinking that opposition unity should include WP.
You misunderstand me. This is my stand:
1. If the WP should deign to be part of an opposition alliance, I'll fully support it because it shows WP's commitment to the oppo cause.
2. If the WP chooses to go it alone, or worse, form a coalition with the PAP in a hung election, then I'll consider WP's loyalty to the opposition cause suspect and, in the latter case, even a fake opposition.
Yet when TCB will clearly score better than TJS, you support TJS joining the fray.
I didn't know how well TCB or TJS would do prior to polling day. My analysis is POST-MORTEM. Seeing that TJS had 25% and TKL had 5%, it's obvious to even the densest fool that TKL's 5% would amply compensate for TCB's 0.34% defeat margin. Plus a guy who loses his deposit does not deserve to stand in the first place. ON HINDSIGHT.
Then why are you interested in SDP uniting with WP. SDP should stay far from WP in that case.
I'm interested in ALL oppo parties combining to overthrow the regime, not just SDP and WP. But if a particular party chooses not to cooperate with the rest, I think it's fair that people question its commitment to the opposition cause. You can't even understand this simple logic?
BTW, nobody, not even TCB's supporters, considers TCB an opposition figure. They see him as a PAP establishment figure, but the lesser of two evils in the choice between TCB and TT. On hindsight, PE2011 was a fight between a conservative and a moderate PAP candidate, not between the PAP and the opposition.
So to use the PE as an allegory for opposition coalition politics is plain wrong.