Election Results

The election results were all released by 3am in the morning. While I wouldn't be expecting that the PAP will lose, but I had better expectations, especially over some contested areas. Here are some of the disappointments:

1) Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
Votes: Chiam See Tong's Team (43.06%) vs. Wong Kan Seng's Team (56.94%)
- I was expecting CST to win by a thin margin, considering that he managed to guard Potong Pasir for about 2 decades already, and his charisma. His biggest and only weakness is his age and poor health. WKS had to be responsible for Mas Selamat's escape by stepping down from minister position, but yet he remains intact. I REALLY wondered about what those people at Bishan-Toa Payoh were thinking... That's not to mention I've heard from my friend living there that they removed some facilities (cameras in lift) on the pretext of cost saving...

2) Marine Parade GRC
Votes: Nichole Seah's Team (43.35%) vs Goh Chok Tong & Tin Pei Ling Team (56.65%)
- Frankly speaking, the moment GCT is on any team, it's a sure win for PAP, just like LHL & LKY. Nichole Seah fought a good fight, though I feel that her party in general were a tad lacking in being more forward looking. Too much time wasted by NSP on exchanging verbal lashes and merely verbal expression of the passion to serve. However, the tighter margin could be made, due to Nichole's maturity and charisma, and TPL's lack of aforementioned. Then again, if you look at the other results of NSP (which average around 30ish percent), I guess this 10% upswing from their average is already relatively impressive.

3) Potong Pasir SMC
Votes: Lina Loh (49.64%) vs Sitoh Yih Pin (50.36%)
- I sure was expecting CST's wife to be able to guard this place, albeit with a very thin margin. There's alot of affection from the ground towards CST in that area. Looks like I was only half-right. The margin was thin. Difference of 114 votes, with scrapped votes of around 250. The scrapped votes could have made the difference. With this lost, the last stronghold of SPP is gone, and probably also marks the end of CST's political journey. People will commemorate his spirit in many years to come.

It's not all bad news though. Tonight, Singaporeans have made history! Starting with:

1) Aljunied GRC
Votes: Low Thia Khiang's Team (54.71%) vs George Yeo's Team (45.29%)
- An opposition succeeded in challenging for a GRC for the 1st time in Singapore's history! It comes as no surprise given Mr Low's popularity, charisma and efficiency as demonstrating in his well-running of Hougang, A-class team members, and his "slap the driver" theory. LOL! Frankly speaking, George Yeo's team ain't a pushover idea, given 3 ministers onboard and that he himself is one of the best minister. Or at the very least, he makes no major mistake thus far, and is probably one of the most internet-savvy minister. On top of his softer approach in this election, it lends him very positive sentiments on the internet. Even with him losing, supporters of the oppositions are generally in favor of him running for other important positions, and perhaps even replace TPL with him. His son is wise to advise him on how to manage Gen-Y indeed. Anyway, this should not be the end of the story for LTK's team, considering 54.71% is a relatively small margin. His team needs to work even harder to win the favor of the Aljunied residents and honoring his objective to push for a world-class parliament, or risk being put back at step one in 5 years time.

2) Hougang SMC
Votes: Desmond Choo (35.19%) vs Yaw Shin Leong (64.81%)
- This is also a battle won brilliantly by the WP, and also one that is generally expected to be won, since the hougang residents are extremely supportive of WP. It's also an interesting duel between the two, because both are young adults of my age group, and are teochews, just like myself and most of the people in Hougang. I would have trusted that LTK placed a reasonably strong reserve to guard the WP's stronghold, before deciding to venture out of it. Like George Yeo, Desmond Choo's lost was not due to his own incompetency, but due to the sentiments of the local people, similar to that CST at Potong Pasir. And I find it VERY commendable, because Desmond Choo accepted the lost gracefully, congratulated his rival and commit to continue working with his rival to take care of the local people's welfare and concerns. This is a strong contrast to Desmond Lim from SDA who blamed his critical lost (4.45% @ Punggol East) to the brand of his own party.

Conclusion: I'm not sure of what to make of the general outlook for Singapore. The PAP doesn't have a strong mandate. The oppositions as a whole made alot of sacrifices and compromises in order to avoid competition with each other. Those oppositions who did not win a single seat, at least manage to dent the statistics of historical PAP supports. This isn't something that the WP could have done by itself. So it surely rings the alarm for PAP. After all, if you can actually look at the demographic of the age group of the voters, the PAP has a bunk of diehard supporters who are from gen-X, and this number is decreasing, due to passing away, etc. Also, social media plays an importantly role is raising people's awareness of politics, giving the opposition a more balanced playing field in terms of publicity, which could explain the approx 10% swing in votes towards the oppositions. The oppositions are also specifically targeting the middle and lower class income, which statistically is more than merely the higher income people. If the oppositions were to increase its popularity, they would need very diversified plans for the country, where even the higher income group would be interested in, as well as having a positive track record, so that the middle income group are convinced that the oppositions are just as (if not more) capable than the PAP candidates. The next 5 years will be a trial for the workers' party, whether if the mandates given by the people are deserving. The PAP, on the other hand, will need to reform itself, preferably by nominating new ministers for the next 10 years, and/or changing the style of the party, from that high-handed style ("I tell you what is good for you"), to something more even-handed and receptive ("Please let me know what are your concerns, so I can help you").

This ends my analysis for GE2011. (And I don't get to vote this year... AGAIN!)