Far East: PM Lawrence Wong Leads PAP to Strongest Mandate in Decades as Singapore Opts for Stability

EDGAR SU

For the 16th time, Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP) has won the election. This time, PAP has won by a margin highest in decades, with its current Prime Minister, Lawrence Wong, supplementing a huge boost to the much-needed cabinet in which he inherited last year.

With the new parliament, the 15th Parliament, set to convene on September 5th, a strong margin of PAP in the parliament means that Wong’s agenda might benefit from an easy path forward from key national issues to critical government reforms. Prime Minister Wong has also made the statement clear with a significant cabinet reshuffle right after the election. It is now certain that in the face of increasing global uncertainty, the city-state will choose to focus on stabilising the region with reforms.

A Dominant Mandate

After the May 3rd general election, PAP have secured a major victory, one they haven’t seen in decades, ever since it began its winning streak back in 1959 when Singapore was still a British colony.

Under the premiership of Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, the party received over 66% of the popular vote, categorizing this victory as a dominant mandate which the party has not had in decades. The turn-out for the vote was also high with over 92% of the 2.6 million registered voters participating in the polling.

This dominant mandate can be seen as a direct response to the state of global politics. Ever since the escalation of the global trade war, led by President Trump’s tariffs, Singapore’s position in the global trading system has been put into jeopardy. With Singapore’s global trade volume three times as high as its GDP, the country has chosen a prime minister who will prioritize stability and cooperation, rather than confrontation and isolation. This similar trend in elections can also be seen in the recent Canadian and Australian elections.

Singapore’s role as a financial and commercial hub expands larger than just within the Southeast Asian region but globally. It plays an extensive role in connecting the West and the massive markets of China. PM Wong’s victory, therefore, can be seen as a plea for stability in a global political upheaval.

Cabinet Reshuffle

PM Wong has taken to the table with the now reshuffled cabinet. He still chose to keep the key ministry role unchanged, with Trade Minister Gan Kim Yong as the deputy prime minister. A noteworthy shift, however, was that Wong did not appoint any second deputy prime minister, a deep contrast to his previous cabinet and his predecessors.

During an announcement from his office, Wong mentioned that the objective of the cabinet reshuffling was to keep “experienced hands and helm.” He further cited that the rising trade barriers and sharpening competition will be the main challenge that his administration will need to tackle.

This cabinet reshuffling can also be seen as an attempt by Wong to recreate Singapore’s new political faces, by taking into account over 32 new faces in the parliament, he and his PAP seek to rebrand themselves as an administration of “new blood, new ideas and new energy.” This stance can be seen more effectively with older faces either leaving or retiring from politics, including Singapore’s longest-serving defence minister and a former deputy under PM Lee.

Despite the party’s introduction of new politics, some familiar faces still retain their position in the new administration, starting with Seah Kian Peng’s nomination as Speaker of the House in which he has been in the position since 2023. Meanwhile, Indranee Rajah will serve as the Leader of the House, an office which she has been serving since 2020. It could be speculated that Wong intentionally put the House’s leadership to be amongst those he could trust and already had immense parliamentary experiences in order to pass his party’s agendas.

What Are The Implications?

With this supermajority for the PAP, the party can pursue the intended legislative and constitutional reforms it has promised on the campaign trail. This includes policies focused on combating an ageing society, transforming the economy for AI integration, and maintaining regional geopolitical stability. Although the cost of living which has skyrocketed in recent years has also been imposed as a major issue, PAP has not extensively mentioned its proposed policies on cutting down costs.

This has been overlooked by voters, however, as the more pressing issue of global order is being disrupted by U.S. President Trump and his tariff spree which poses an immense threat to Singapore, a trade-dependent country. The result has shown a significant and similar trend with Australia’s Labor Party, which won a second term last May and Canada’s Liberal Party, which claimed a victory last April.

Analysts have mentioned that Wong’s major victory can be traced to a strong element of a “flight to safety” that has taken over voters in retaliation to President Trump’s policies.

Another pressing concern that came with this major victory was the check-and-balance role of the opposition which has only won 10 seats by the Workers’ Party. During an interview, the Workers’ Party’s leader, Pritam Singh mentioned that it is a “very difficult fight for the Workers' Party, as you know, any opposition party in Singapore, to make inroads into our political system, the challenges are real.” This means that with the PAP in power over almost all prospects in Singapore’s political landscape, any kind of opposition may be suppressed rapidly and severely to the point that it will become increasingly difficult to keep the current administration in check and accountable.

With President Tharman Shanmugaratnam to deliver an opening address at the inauguration in September 5th and the debate initiating through September 22-26, Singapore has decisively voted for stability and a steady political evolution in the face of an impending economic crisis. It will be rather difficult to foresee how the ushering of economic and foreign policy reform will take shape but for now, Singapore rests in a steady, ‘experienced hands.’