GE 2011 Results

The 2011 General Election has attracted much attention from the day it was announced. All GRCs and SMCs were contested by opposition parties, with only one SMC, Tanjong Pagar, being a walkover. This is a large change as in previous years, 7 or more constituencies were walkovers. Several constituencies had never been contested for a decade or more .

The general election has also been widely followed online. Political Apathy is no longer a term that can be used to describe a majority of the youth in Singapore. Many youths, whether of voting age or not, were able to follow the election through social media such as Twitter, Youtube, and Facebook. These examples of social media allowed opposition parties to get their message across and also reach out to the youth.

Furthermore, in an attempt to reach out to more youths, both ruling party, the PAP, and the opposition have fielded “Young candidates” who are supposedly more able to reach out to the younger generation of voters. These two candidates are Tin Pei Ling of the PAP, and Nicole Seah of the NSP, who were both contesting Marine Parade GRC.

Also, several issues have made this election a much more contested one. Several issues have struck a chord among Singaporeans young and old alike. For example, the rising cost of living, the Lack of Care for elderly citizens, etc. Many people have also been outraged by the significantly higher salaries of the ministers, while people from the lower class are struggling to make a living. These issues have been mentioned frequently by the opposition during rallies, finally resulting in PM Lee Hsien Loong giving an apology to the citizens of Singapore about those aforementioned issues.

Indeed, the results of the General Election have been unprecedented - this is the first ever time that a GRC has been won over by the opposition, in this case, Aljunied GRC. This PAP’s vote margin has also fallen significantly. What has caused this change in the attitudes of the electorate?

This change might be caused by the voters trying to vent their frustrations about the issues mentioned. However, it should also be noted that more talent is being recruited by the opposition. A good example of this would be Mr Chen Show Mao, part of the team which won Aljunied GRC. Mr Chen returned to Singapore to take part in the General Election. His motives were frequently questioned, as many were interested to know why he had chosen to return to Singapore at such a opportunate moment. However, it should also be noted that Mr Chen was a Rhode Scholar, and was very well educated, apart from being an excellent orator.

Thus, the General Election of 2011 is truly a “watershed” election..