SINGAPORE, Sept 12 — In winning a strong mandate from Singaporeans, the People’s Action Party (PAP) did so with wide margins in many of the battle grounds, garnering more than 70 per cent of the vote in 15 of the 29 constituencies.

This was in stark contrast to its results the 2011 General Election, where it managed to edge past the 70 per cent mark in just one constituency: Hong Kah North Single-Member Constituency (SMC), where Dr Amy Khor won 70.61 per cent of the vote.

Yesterday, the PAP achieved this feat in nine of the Group Representation Constituencies it won, with the Jurong GRC team emerging tops with 79.28 per cent of the vote. The party also received 78.63 per cent of the vote in Ang Mo Kio GRC, helmed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, and garnered 78.57 per cent and 77.71 per cent of the vote in West Coast and Tanjong Pagar GRCs, respectively.

The PAP also won six SMCs by large margins. Sam Tan Chin Siong won with 77.25 per cent of the vote in Radin Mas, while Cedric Foo received 76.34 per cent in Pioneer. Dr Khor improved on her 2011 performance with a 74.76 per cent win in Hong Kah North.

Overall, the PAP received 69.86 per cent of the vote — the party’s best showing since 2001, when it garnered 75.3 per cent.

In the 2006 election, where there were seven walkovers, the PAP received more than 70 per cent in only two constituencies: Sembawang GRC and Bukit Panjang SMC. The party received 66.6 per cent of the total vote that year.

In the 2001 election, where there were 10 walkovers, the PAP garnered more than 70 per cent of the vote in 10 constituencies, of which three — Ayer Rajah, Joo Chiat and MacPherson SMCs — received vote shares of more than 80 per cent.

Yesterday, Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who led the PAP team in Jurong GRC, told reporters after results for the constituency were announced: “We are humbled by voters’ trust in us and faith in our plans, and we will work very hard to take it forward.”

He also said: “Our candidates worked extremely hard. I think Singaporeans at the end of the day saw the value of our candidates. The Opposition had a fair chance. They had some very good candidates, but at the end of the day, Singaporeans decided that they had to vote for the best path forward for Singapore.”

Going forward, the PAP will continue to listen, be open to all ideas and correct itself when it makes mistakes, he added.

Dr Ng Eng Hen, Defence Minister and the PAP’s organising secretary, said winning 70 per cent of the total vote in a free and fair election in any democracy worldwide is “almost unheard of.”

“I would summarise this as a day of great hope not for the PAP, but for Singapore, because it spells out how stable our system is, and that this type of politics that is unique to Singapore works,” said Dr Ng, whose team received 73.59 per cent of the vote in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC. — TODAY