Yeah, so basically my thoughts on the General Elections 2011.
tl;dr Singapore held an election on 7th May. This election has seen the most number of non-PAP Member of Parliaments in Singapore with 6 entering parliament all at once. And it is the first time in history that a GRC is won by a non-PAP party. It is a political milestone. PAP has lost a huge amount of support from the people.
Saturday 7th May 2011 was balloting day for Singapore. For anyone who has followed the political scene in Singapore, you'd be quite familiar with the term "PAP". The PAP, People's Action Party, has been the incumbent party since independence. The other parties had seen small numbers MPs in Parliament since independence, and with only a select few popular opposition members going in parliament, with only 2 out of the 80 odd seats going to opposition in the last election in 2006.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/wp-wins-aljunied-grc--reports.html
In a nutshell, this year's election was a very special one, it history in the making. State media seemed to have much more coverage of the opposition parties, the internet was a stronghold of sorts for the opposition, and for the first time in history, opposition parties were in the spotlight. And with smear campaigns and sensationalism peaked by the passionate campaigning of both the opposition and PAP, Singaporeans entered the ballot booths. One of the opposition parties, the Worker's Party sent a 5 man team, which includes their Secretary-General, to Aljunied GRC( check this link if you don't know what a GRC is) and generated more buzz than ever. And now, for the first time in history, there are 6 MPs in Parliament. This is the first time an opposition has won a GRC since its inception, and our foreign minister, George Yeo, was unfortunately voted out. Of course, PAP still retains its 2/3 majority.
Personally, I'm a minor advocate of the PAP because I see little substance in a lot of the opposition's candidates compared to PAP's candidates(of course, the Aljunied team was amazing substance wise), but its good to see a fight for change. I mean the political climate has been stale for quite a long time and this is a big improvement for our nation. And there's a huge decline in support for PAP in this election, from a support of 66.6% to 60.2%, a enormous swing. Which is well and good, since I believe the PAP has grown a little complacent during their 50 years of reign. This means the PAP has to bring their absolute "A Game" to the next election if they don't want a larger decline. Unfortunately, one of our most capable ministers has been voted out, quite a loss to Singapore IMO.
I believe Singapore can grow stronger.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/wp-wins-aljunied-grc--reports.html
In a nutshell, this year's election was a very special one, it history in the making. State media seemed to have much more coverage of the opposition parties, the internet was a stronghold of sorts for the opposition, and for the first time in history, opposition parties were in the spotlight. And with smear campaigns and sensationalism peaked by the passionate campaigning of both the opposition and PAP, Singaporeans entered the ballot booths. One of the opposition parties, the Worker's Party sent a 5 man team, which includes their Secretary-General, to Aljunied GRC( check this link if you don't know what a GRC is) and generated more buzz than ever. And now, for the first time in history, there are 6 MPs in Parliament. This is the first time an opposition has won a GRC since its inception, and our foreign minister, George Yeo, was unfortunately voted out. Of course, PAP still retains its 2/3 majority.
Personally, I'm a minor advocate of the PAP because I see little substance in a lot of the opposition's candidates compared to PAP's candidates(of course, the Aljunied team was amazing substance wise), but its good to see a fight for change. I mean the political climate has been stale for quite a long time and this is a big improvement for our nation. And there's a huge decline in support for PAP in this election, from a support of 66.6% to 60.2%, a enormous swing. Which is well and good, since I believe the PAP has grown a little complacent during their 50 years of reign. This means the PAP has to bring their absolute "A Game" to the next election if they don't want a larger decline. Unfortunately, one of our most capable ministers has been voted out, quite a loss to Singapore IMO.
I believe Singapore can grow stronger.
tl;dr Singapore held an election on 7th May. This election has seen the most number of non-PAP Member of Parliaments in Singapore with 6 entering parliament all at once. And it is the first time in history that a GRC is won by a non-PAP party. It is a political milestone. PAP has lost a huge amount of support from the people.
