Why PAP aiming for 65% of the popular vote

In 2006, in Lee Jnr’s first GE as PM , the PAP won 66.6% of the popular vote (Btw, in Goh Cock Chok Tong first GE as PM in1991, PAP only got 61%).

In GE 2011, the 60.1% share of the popular vote was a black eye for PM and the PAP and the PAP had to pull all the stops to get up to 69.9%.

So will be trying very hard not to get the 60-61% kind of result in the next GE because it wants a smooth transition to the 4G leaders: at 60-61% the message is that the voters don’t trust the 4G leaders

Nikkei Asian Review puts it this way:

If Mr Lee … can secure a smooth leadership transition, it would go a long way toward convincing voters that the party is capable of navigating an increasingly turbulent global environment.*

I’d put it this way: In the context of a 60- 61% share of the popular vote being mud in the eye for the PAP, anything less than 65% will be seen as less than a smooth transition by the PAP and the voters.

Hence the crackdown on some CB mouths and the other usual suspects, and the goodies we’ll be getting. CB is short form for an extremely vulgar Hokkien term that describes aptly people like Uncle Leong, the two Indians in TOC, and Oxygen who danced on the graves of children who died (TRE grave dancer doesn’t deny grave dancing), Bapak and the other cybernuts like Lim Tean and Goh Meng Seng.

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*The full piece

An early election in Singapore?

Singapore must hold its next general election by April 2021, but Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has hinted that it could come two years early.

Mr Lee seems to be weighing his timing carefully. The trade-reliant economy will probably see a slowdown in the next 12 months, according to a survey of economists by the Monetary Authority of Singapore. All 23 respondents cited intensifying trade friction as a risk to growth. Public discontent over this, as well as planned tax rises and the income gap, could provide ammunition for opposition parties.

The ruling People’s Action Party revamped its executive team in late November. This included Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat being named first assistant secretary-general, a move seen as a key step for him to succeed Mr Lee as prime minister.

If Mr Lee — the son of Singapore’s founding father Lee Kuan Yew — can secure a smooth leadership transition, it would go a long way toward convincing voters that the party is capable of navigating an increasingly turbulent global environment.

Kentaro Iwamoto, Nikkei staff writer

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