Singapore's ruling party batters opposition in huge election win

Singapore’s ruling party has won the city-state’s most fiercely contested election since independence, thumping parties that had hoped to create a stronger opposing voice in a country dominated by one political faction.

The People’s Action party (PAP) secured 83 of the 89 seats against the opposition in most districts by wide margins. The only opposition group to gain seats, the Workers’ party (WP), now has six members of parliament, down from seven.

Prime minister Lee Hsien Loong called the snap election more than a year early in the hope of riding a wave of national pride following the country’s recent 50th anniversary.

“We are very grateful, we are very happy, but at the same time, we are very humbled by the result,” he told supporters after winning in his district. This is the 12th time the PAP, which has never lost, will form a government.

The ruling party was expected to win but rival parties were also hoping to make gains as this election was the first time in the country’s history that opposition parties had contested every seat. In previous polls, residents in districts without an opposition party would simply not vote.

The opposition has tried to capitalise on public anger over a weakening economy, a spate of public transport breakdowns and immigration woes.

Polls opened at 8am (0000 GMT) for 12 hours. The country uses a first-past-the-post voting system, which means results are not proportional to national voting patterns.

The PAP’s overall share of the vote slipped from 67% in the 2006 election to 60% in the 2011 election. It bounced back, up to 70%, results showed.

All of the nine opposition parties contesting the election saw a drop in their percentage of seats and votes.

Voting is compulsory for the roughly 2.5 million Singaporeans aged over 21. Candidates were only given nine days to flood social media with campaign messages after Lee called the election late last month.

Lee , 63, faced the electorate for the first time without his popular father, who ruled for three decades as premier and is credited with transforming the swampy island into a regional financial hub. Lee Kuan Yew died in March aged 91.

Both father and son have been accused of authoritarianism for strictly controlling the press and hampering political dissent but these are not key issues for most voters.

Lee cast his vote in a constituency in the south of the city on Friday morning. He was joined by other Singaporeans who voted in a thick haze, the result of forest fires in nearby Indonesia.

“We’ve done our best,” Lee told reporters. “It’s a major turning point for Singapore.”

A key issue has been the influx of migrants into the country of only 5.5 million that has no natural resources and relies on cheap labour to support the economy. Immigration has been blamed for a rise in house prices and crowded public transport.

Lee has tried to reduce immigration while keeping businesses content with rising wages as the labour supply drops.

Robert Stark, vice-president for south-east Asia for Marriott hotels, said that since the last election the labour market had constricted, leading the company to implement reforms such as mobile check-in to become more efficient.

“Concerns for the election from a business standpoint is the tight labour market. It continues to be a subject that employers grapple with,” he told the Guardian ahead of the results.

Stark said regardless of the election outcome Singapore will keep “a strong reputation as a business hub. That is not going to go away.”

Sagging economic growth in Singapore has also caused concern. The government revised official August GDP growth forecasts from 2–4% to 2–2.5% and DBS Bank, Singapore’s biggest lender, said this week forecasts were at 1.8%.

The Workers’ party leader, Low Thia Khiang, 59, won his own seat by a margin of less than two percentage points. He had said that he hoped to gain 20 seats this year to create a substantive opposition and keep the PAP in check.

The smaller Singapore Democratic party (SDP) is led by a prominent dissident, Chee Soon Juan, and has also led large rallies, although it holds no seats.