SINGAPORE, Sept 12 — A ruling party that has become more responsive, the death of founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew, the SG50 milestone as well as the municipal issue of town council management were behind the swing against Opposition parties this General Election (GE), political analysts told TODAY as they dissect what went wrong for the Opposition camp.

These factors brought about questions of competency and track record, which set the stage for voters to decide who can best bring the country forward amid external security and economic headwinds, they added.

Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan said: “Especially voters who are undecided or the middle ground with no strong political affiliation, they would probably think that with the regional uncertainties, there was the possibility that going into this election, the PAP (People’s Action Party) would do really badly. And they thought this is not a time to have a weakened PAP.”

Former Nominated Member of Parliament (NMP) Siew Kum Hong said that even though he had expected the PAP to do better than it did in the previous election four years ago, he was surprised that the Workers’ Party (WP) was as affected as it was by the “national level shift.”

This could be due to the “more conservative” approach which the WP had taken in between the two GEs, he said. “What that means is they won’t be able to overcome and break out of national level shifts and sentiment. For example, if they had been able to establish themselves more effectively in Parliament, they might have been able to resist that national level shift,” Siew said.

The WP retained the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) and the Hougang single-seat ward by a smaller margin than the 2011 polls, and lost the Punggol East Single-Member Constituency (SMC) to the ruling party. Overall, the WP had a 12.5 per cent share of the popular vote, a slight dip from the 12.8 per cent it achieved in the 2011 GE.

Associate professor Tan said the issues surrounding the accounts of Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) may have also “undermined voters’ confidence” in the WP. It is thus crucial for the WP to resolve this within the next year or risk the issue affecting their chances more the next GE, he said.

Despite the WP’s weaker performance, the analysts noted that the party looks set to maintain its presence in Parliament, as it will likely take up the Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seats. These seats in the House are given to losing Opposition candidates with the highest percentage of votes.

In the previous Parliament, the WP had seven elected MPs and two NCMPs. The remaining NCMP was from the Singapore People’s Party. This time round, the WP would be offered three NCMP seats, on top of its six elected MPs.

For the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), whose secretary-general Chee Soon Juan was making a political comeback after 14 years, the challenge lies in capitalising on the momentum that it has built up in the past week of campaigning, analysts said.

Led by Dr Chee, the SDP team for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC garnered about 33.4 per cent of the votes — a weaker showing compared with its 2011 GE predecessors, who received 39.9 per cent of the votes. SDP’s overall share of the popular vote also dipped from about 4.8 per cent to about 3.8 per cent.

“SDP is facing a very tough question now: Is it still a viable political party, now that it has tried so hard?” said associate professor Alan Chong from the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies. “So, I think there will be some difficult (times) ahead where it has to decide, can it be successful?”

But Siew said there is space for other Opposition parties apart from the WP to exist here. He noted that the SDP had been “very active” in between elections and it should continue being so.

What worked in SDP’s favour is the niche that they have identified, which can help the party stay relevant, he said. Assoc Prof Tan said that with the NCMP seats likely to go to the WP, the SDP has to continue to “show that it have some policy-making capabilities” as well as continue working the ground. “I think by many accounts, particularly for Dr Chee, it was a good reintroduction and it remains for it to build on that and that’s where the challenge lies for it,” Assoc Prof Tan said. — TODAY