00:00Singapore is heading to the polls this weekend, and the question isn't whether the ruling party
00:07will walk away with a victory. The People's Action Party is heavily favored to win the
00:12general election and has run the country unbroken since 1959, before independence.
00:19Instead, it's a matter of how big of a margin they win by. The party wants to extend its rule,
00:25but it also wants a stronger mandate. That's the test for Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.
00:31This is the first vote since he took over from Li Shenlong as party leader in May last year.
00:36The PAP frequently walks away with results that would be a landslide win in any democracy,
00:41but can be seen differently in the city-state. In 2015, it won by 70% of the popular vote,
00:49but that dropped to 61% in 2020, a signal that things may be changing.
00:56Opposition gains have been widely interpreted as signs of disenchantment with the ruling party's
01:01control and a desire, especially among younger voters, for more diverse politics and stronger
01:06debate. However, some researchers like Gillian Koh believe the party is aware of the risks of stagnation.
01:12Well, I think the PAP is very, very conscious that, you know, having been around for more than six
01:19decades, there's always the threat of becoming complacent and ossification. And that's why even
01:26Lawrence Wong, you know, mentioned that the November 2024 party conference marking the 70th anniversary
01:36of the party's founding that, you know, nobody should take for granted that the PAP will continue
01:45to be government.
01:46The PAP is also being targeted by the opposition over living costs and housing in one of the world's
01:53most expensive cities. The Workers' Party is the largest opposition party led by 49-year-old
01:59lawyer Preetam Singh. It advocates for alternative voices to the PAP and, one day, bringing a third
02:07of the legislature under opposition control. The Workers' Party has proven itself to be a loyal
02:13opposition in parliament. Loyal, not in the PAP, loyal to Singapore and the people of Singapore.
02:27No opposition party can mount a challenge alone, with the Workers' Party, the ruling party's biggest rival,
02:33running in only a quarter of the races. Yet, while it poses no threat to PAP rule, it won six seats in
02:412011 and 2015, and ten in 2020. While a PAP defeat is highly unlikely, if the opposition gains further
02:50seats, some analysts say it could lead to a shift in Singapore and, one day, a plurality of power.
03:03A PAP because there's nothing in the medium of bankruptcy precon異og turban regions in Taiwan.
03:08And a powerful internal minister. And if there is an internationalaha, to not only
03:12have the ataques in Singapore, in it may not only have the Liver to tour the century, unless the
03:13economy brings all side of the Z. • deliver the lift right ofом That's a
03:13wären.
03:14That's a Royal menu of Security at the moment.
03:14And I won't fit.
03:15If there is no way, if there is any relief in an embassy in Mexico, that once came from a
03:16лю музレ것, there is a jet of United States…
03:17war of which there is if there is some big terms.
03:19For those mirrors of a major movement that bekannt nation, yet they are not
03:22in the 모두+, gold.
03:23By this, we give a great alliance with these medications in a particular
03:24their own clever decomposition and the Spanish.
Comments