Singapore''s ruling party sweeps elections
PTI | 07:05 PM,May 08,2011PAP took the Tanjong Pagar on nomination day on April 27 when the opposition failed to file their papers in time, winning five seats led by Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Singapore and also Prime Minister Lee's father.Lee also assured that the government would work hard on its own with "a population of passive but engaging Singaporeans in the more difficult decisions and trade-offs which governing Singapore involves".Foreign Minister George Yeo along with cabinet minister Lim Hwee Hua and senior Minister of State Zailnul Abidin Rasheed, a sitting member of parliament Cynthia Phua and newcomer Ong Ye Kung lost the Aljunied GRC by a margin of 9.4 per cent to WP.WP leader Low led party chairman Sylvia Lim, and first timers Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap, corporate lawyer Chen Show Mao, and postgraduate law student Pritam Singh in defeating PAP for the first time in the GRC, a unique grouping parliamentarians in electing minority representation from the pre-dominantly Chinese population in Singapore.Overall, PAP received 60.14 per cent of the total votes from the 2.05 million voters and WP took 12.82 per cent.The rest of the votes were taken by the other contesting parties - National Solidarity Party which took 12.04 per cent, Reform Party 4.28 per cent, Singapore Democratic Alliance 2.8 per cent, Singapore Democratic Party 4.83 per cent, Singapore People's Party 3.1 per cent. A total of 2.057 million or 93.06 per cent of the 2.21 million Singaporeans voted yesterday.The PAP, in power since 1959 under the stewardship of Lee Kuan Yew, held 82 of the 84 seats in the last parliament elected in 2006, with vote support of 67 per cent.Singapore, rated among the world's top commerce, trade and financial centres, is projected to post an economic growth of between four per cent and six per cent this year, a follow on to last year's 14.5 per cent, having rebounded strongly from the global economic meltdown of mid-2008 and 2009.Singapore got independence in 1965 from Great Britain.PTI GS MYR AKJ
displayed with permission. Use of the CNN name and/or logo on or as part of CNN-IBN does not derogate from the intellectual property rights of Cable News Network in respect of them.
Disclaimer: Network18 Media & Investments Limited is proposing, subject to market conditions and other considerations, an offer of its equity shares on rights basis and has filed a Draft Letter of Offer with the Securities and Exchange Board of India. The Draft Letter of Offer is available on the website of SEBI at