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Singapore’s Ruling PAP Faces Its Most Competitive Election Ever
Lee Hsien Yang of the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) greets a hawker during a walkabout ahead of the last general election in Singapore on June 28, 2020. Edgar Su/Reuters
www.cfr.org
Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has been renowned for its unbroken streak of election victories since the island state gained independence. Historically, and to some extent even today, the PAP has secured these wins by creating favorable conditions before Election Day.
Rather than using obvious and outright authoritarian tactics to win votes, the PAP has used subtler means. For instance, the government created multi-member electoral constituencies rather than the single-member ones common in a Westminster-style parliamentary system. Multiple-member constituencies require any party to recruit more candidates, build a larger infrastructure, and spend more money to win. For a time, opposition parties rarely had these advantages.
When opposition critics spoke out against some of the government’s actions, PAP members would sue them for libel, often bankrupting them in Singapore’s compliant courts. In the past, it would detain its critics and opposition leaders, though it has moved away from these methods recently.
For decades, it oversaw remarkable economic growth, rising standards of living, the emergence of numerous regionally powerful Singaporean companies, and a reputation for clean government—highly uncommon in Southeast Asia. It also established Singapore's strategic importance well beyond its small size and population. The PAP became synonymous with good governance, and its achievements brought it genuine legitimacy and popularity among Singaporeans. Combined with its tactics to tilt the playing field, this popularity helped it dominate each election.
But in recent election cycles, the opposition has grown more organized and started to make gains. In the national election that must be called this year, the PAP—battered by national trends that have unsettled some Singaporeans and challenged by its own infighting and a corruption trial—now faces the possibility of the biggest opposition wins in Singaporean history. For more on the PAP’s challenges and its opposition’s increasing strength, see our new article in World Politics Review.
