WP's Lee Li Lian takes Punggol East by decisive margin
Lee Li Lian of the opposition Workers’ Party won the Punggol East by-election by a comfortable margin Saturday, delivering a big blow to the ruling People’s Action Party.
The 34-year-old sales trainer garnered 16,038 votes against PAP candidate Dr Koh Poh Koon’s 12,856 to become the first female opposition member to win a single member constituency since 1965.
The Workers’ Party’s Lee Li Lian won 54.5 percent of 29,415 valid votes in a four-way race yesterday, defeating the ruling People’s Action Party’s Koh Poh Koon, who came second with 43.7 percent.
“They aren’t going far enough to address the fundamental disconnect with society and the people’s grievances,” said Bridget Welsh, a political science professor at the Singapore Management University.
WP’s margin of victory ‘devastating’ for PAP: analysts
It is not just about demographics but a national erosion of support sustained over the last four elections. The trends indicate that the PAP is in deep trouble – it’s efforts to win over the electorate are not working,” said Welsh, who is from Singapore Management University’s Political Science faculty.
“This is more than a wake-up call, it’s a fire alarm.”
S'poreans want govt to work harder: Low Thia Khiang
With the victory, Ms Lee Li Lian of the Workers' Party (WP) becomes the first woman opposition party candidate to have won a single member constituency since 1965. History too, for the Workers' Party, as it captures another constituency from the ruling People's Action Party (PAP).
The Workers' Party (WP) secretary-general Mr Low Thia Khiang has said that the results of the Punggol East by-election show that Singaporeans expect the government to work harder for them.
I will work very hard: WP's Lee
Workers' Party (WP) candidate Lee Li Lian emphasised her desire to work hard for the residents of Punggol East, ahead of the WP's victory parade that started at 10am today.
"I will work very hard, because I have 3 years instead of 5 years," she said. She also added that she hoped to "get more woman and young people in to enervate awareness".
'Punggol slap turns into Punggol punch'
Dr Koh Poh Koon had some heavyweight support in the ring – with a slew of MPs and cabinet members softening the ground for him, including Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean. Still, Koh lost.
... the ability to come across as an average Joe is what it will take to win votes or in this case an average "Ah Lian" -- a term affectionately used by WP supporters in reference to Lee.
As Henry David Thoreau once wrote: "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them."
Big losses in by-election but spirit stays strong
The two candidates who lost the most at the Punggol East by-election Saturday were Desmond Lim from the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and Kenneth Jeyaretnam from Reform Party.
Not only did they get low support from voters, both are losing their election deposit of S$16,000 each that they paid to contest this by-election.
A candidate's election deposit is forfeited if he or she gets less than one-eighth or 12.5 per cent of the votes cast in the constituency that he or she contests.
Lim, 45, received 168 votes, or 0.57 per cent of the votes on Saturday in the four-party fight for the constituency.
Jeyaretnam – who had promised to move to Punggol East during his campaign and said he would donate 10 per cent of his pay if elected – took 353 votes, or 1.2 per cent of the votes.
The Election Department reported on its website that the total number of votes cast in the Punggol East by-election is 29,832, including 417 rejected votes.
Three reasons why Dr Koh Poh Koon lost Punggol East
In this post, local blogger Belmont Lay talks about why the PAP lost Punggol East SMC by-election (To be taken with a pinch of salt and parental permission is advised):
1) Too corny
What is this deal about Dr Koh being touted as the "Son of Punggol"? I used to stay in Ang Mo Kio. And now I stay in Sengkang. What does that make me? Geographically promiscuous?
2) Is he 'heartlander' enough?
Residing in an HDB flat doesn't make one a heartlander. It is what one does that makes one a heartlander.
Look, a real heartlander is someone who knowingly cheats on his parking coupon by five to 10 minutes each time.
In addition, his weird little story about how he was left with only enough money to buy chopsticks after buying a HDB flat just doesn't jive with reality.
3) He is overqualified
Last but not least, Dr Koh, to say the least, is overqualified for politics. What is a surgeon doing in a domain like politics? If he really wants to do good, he should be in social services.
We wanted change: Punggol East residents
"I'm ecstatic. I was not surprised at all, in fact I expected them to win due to a lot of things that PAP did not fulfill, like the upgrading of Rivervale Plaza," said a 42-year-old logistician who only wanted to be known as Chris.
"Sometime during the election, only then PAP went to the Plaza to see what they can do. They are one step behind WP, they should have worked harder."
Four-cornered fight a blessing in disguise for WP
Despite a crowded race with four candidates, the WP stamped its class, authority and power.
Voters felt that they had nothing much to lose by throwing their support behind a strong, credible alternative given that the outcome of this by-election will not affect the PAP’s control of the Government.
Unsettled ground sentiments over hot-button issues such as housing prices, transport woes, immigration, cost of living and the income divide meant that the addition of another WP MP could press the PAP Government to do more and even faster in order to stanch declining popular support for the ruling party.
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