On 10 July 2020, Singapore went to the polls in its 14th parliamentary elections even as the country faced the twin challenges of Covid-19 and the severe economic recession that the world has to deal with due to the pandemic. After nearly six decades, the opposition led by the Workers’ Party (WP) has for the first time won 10 seats out of the 93 in the unicameral Singaporean parliament. The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) continues to remain in power with 83 seats, but politically, it is a wake-up call for the party that has been at the helm of political affairs since 1959.
At the heart of the matter are several issues that plagued the ruling party and its approach to politics, which were both internally and externally driven. At the internal level, the PAP had systematically been returned to power through the electoral mandate even while there has not been any substantial role for opposition voices, thereby pushing its own agenda on various reforms and constitutional changes. In most of the elections held so far, the PAP has won more than a two-thirds majority, leaving little room for opposition parties to express their concerns or influence the formulation of key policy matters.
At the external level, the impact of Covid-19 on the Singaporean economy has been critical with the country’s GDP plunging by 41% as it faces the worst recession since the global financial crisis of 2008.
Singapore has clauses in its Constitution that relate to Non-Constituent Members of Parliament (NCMPs) and Nominated Members of Parliament (NMPs). The NCMPs are the contestants with the highest votes among the losing candidates; they are inducted into parliament as opposition voices. This was specifically addressed as a constitutional provision in 1984, given that the PAP continued as the single dominant political party for much of the country’s history.
The number of NCMPs in each parliament varies depending on the number of opposition members elected and the Constitution provides for a maximum of 12 NCMP candidates. The NCMP members actually presented a critical moral dilemma in the political system—these members were never technically “elected” opposition members and were basically inducted to provide a veneer that an opposition existed, though some have proved to be strong voices. Moreover, it gave legitimacy to the near total control that the PAP had in parliament, with claims of the opposition being represented by the NCMPs.
Similarly, the Constitution also has provisions for nine NMPs, who are appointed by the President. Normally, these NMPs are independent voices with credible standing in society who are not politically affiliated. Given the ideological leanings of the PAP as a centre-right grouping, the NMPs were mostly technocrats who fitted into the PAP’s overarching policy formulations. In the run-up to this year’s general elections, several noticeable shifts were visible in the political fray. First, a group emerged from within the ruling People’s Action Party.
A former PAP political leader, Tan Cheng Bock, who had been a strong contender for the presidential post in 2011, formed the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) in 2019. The dynamics of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew’s family were also playing itself out in this context as his younger son Lee Hsien Yang, brother of the current premier Lee Hsien Loong, joined the PSP, fracturing the legacy and mandate of the prime minister and the PAP even further.
Interestingly, both Tan Cheng Bock and Lee Hsien Yang articulated the opinion that the PAP, as the single dominant party in Singapore, was not capable of leading the country forward given the political complacency associated with repeated incumbency. The call for change was focused on the lack of transparency in the system and highlighted the opaqueness that political dominance by one party leads to, especially in the absence of credible checks and balances.
The polar opposite positions taken by the two sons of Singapore’s founding father, no doubt, brought life to the short campaign period, but also highlighted the divisiveness in the political process even within the same family. In the elections last month, the PSP lost and two of its losing members have been inducted into the cabinet and declared “elected” as NCMPs. The most credible shift was the position of the Workers’ Party (WP), which represents a centre-left social democratic platform. Winning 10 out of the 93 elected seats in parliament, it has increased its share by four additional seats since the 2015 elections.
Significantly, in the context of the recent economic downturn, the WP’s seat gain is a credible victory as it represents the working class sections of Singaporean society. The leader of the Workers’ Party, Pritam Singh, has been made leader of the opposition. In the context of the political volatilities observed across several democracies, this small victory of the Worker’s Party may not seem that big. However, at a time when the centre-right has claimed its legitimacy across several countries, and given Singapore’s political history, this is no small feat.
Shankari Sundararaman
Professor at School of International Studies, JNU, New Delhi
(shankari@mail.jnu.ac.in)