PAP returned to power in 2006 Parliamentary Elections, Singapore

The incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) has retained its power in the Singapore parliament after getting 66.6% of the valid votes. It maintained 82 of the available 84 seats after securing 45 of the 47 contested seats, together with 37 of the seats that it won on Nomination Day on 26th April through walkovers. The opposition parties Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) and Workers' Party (WP) also retained one seat each.

Despite having more seats contested in this election compared to the 2001 General Elections, the breakdown of seats remains unchanged from the previous election. However, the PAP only won a reduced majority, having only 66.6% of the valid votes compared to the 75% that it won in the previous election because of the spectre of terrorism and a poor economy then.

The PAP took all 7 contested Group Representation Constituencies (GRC) in Ang Mo Kio, Aljunied, East Coast, Jalan Besar, Tampines, Pasir Ris-Punggol and Sembawang, making up 38 of the seats. It also took seven of nine of the single seats in Bukit Panjang, Chua Chu Kang, Joo Chiat, MacPherson, Nee Soon Central, Nee Soon East and Yio Chu Kang.

Among the opposition parties, the WP had the best showing, taking 16.34% of the valid votes, which is an improvement over the 2.7% that in received in the previous election. In the Hougang ward, the incumbent Low Thia Khiang of the WP took 13,987 (62.74%) of the votes, defeating Eric Low Siak Meng of the PAP who only managed 8,306 (37.26%) of the votes while the remaining 277 votes were voided. The opposition win in Hougang is a big disappointment for PAP, which had dangled a carrot of some S$100 million in housing upgrading grants.

Despite losing all of its GRC contests, its best performance was in the controversial and hotly-contested Aljunied, where it took 43.9% of the votes against George Yeo's PAP team who won 56.08% of the votes. Just a few days before, James Gomez of the WP was heavily criticised by the PAP for a non-submission of a certificate proving of his status as a minority. It then became a heavily debated issue in the campaigning until the PAP decided that it should move on to more important issues. Opposition position poster girl Sylvia Lim of the WP Aljunied team seems to be the most likely to be appointed as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) as she got the highest non-winning number of votes.

Chiam See Tong of the SDA beat PAP's Sitoh Yih Pin in the Potong Pasir ward with a margin of 8,242 (55.84%) over 6,518 (44.16%) votes. The remaining 186 of the votes were voided. This is an improvement over the previous election where he only won 52.4% of the votes. However, they did not manage to win any other seats. They received more than 30 percent votes for the seats that they did not win.

Contrary to the performance of the other opposition parties, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) performed poorly in this election compared to the previous election. It lost all the 7 seats that it contested and only received 4.06% of the valid votes compared to 8.1% in 2001. SDP blamed the losses on the ban of political podcasts. SDP also alleged that the media waged a relentless campaign against it and that the lawsuit against it by the PAP prevented it from raising the issue involving the National Kidney Foundation scandal.

Election Results

Seats by party

Party Total seats contested Seats returned unopposed Seats won PAP 84 37 82 SDA 20 0 1 SDP 7 0 0 WP 20 0 1

Votes by party

Party Total votes % of valid votes +/- % PAP 747,860 66.60 -8.69 SDA 145,902 12.99 +0.96 SDP 45,634 4.06 -4.04 WP 183,604 16.34 +13.30

Full results

Results of Singapore general election, 2006 editDivision Seats Voters Party Candidate(s) Votes Votes % Group Representation Constituency (GRC) Aljunied GRC 5 145,099 PAP Cynthia PhuaGeorge Yeo Yong-BoonLim Hwee HuaYeo Guat KwangZainul Abidin Bin Mohamed Rasheed 74,810 56.08 WP Goh Meng SengJames GomezLim Swee Lian SylviaMohammed Rahizan Bin YaacobTan Wui-Hua 58,585 43.92 Ang Mo Kio GRC 6 159,838 PAP Inderjit SinghLam Pin MinLee Bee WahLee Hsien LoongSadasivan BalajiWee Siew Kim 96,591 66.13 WP Abdul Salim Bin HarunGopal KrishnanHan Su MayLee Wai LengTan Kian Hwee MelvinYaw Shin Leong 49,468 33.87Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC5 115,303 PAP Hri Kumar SangaranNg Eng HenWong Kan SengYong Li Min Josephine TeoZainudin Bin Nordin Walkover Walkover East Coast GRC 5 116,611 PAP Abdullah TarmugiShanmugam JayakumarJessica Tan Soon NeoLee Yi ShyanRaymond Lim Siang Keat 66,890 63.85 WP Abdul Rahim Abdul RahmanBrandon Siow Wei-MinChia Ti LikEric Tan Heng ChongPerry Tong Tzee Kwang 37,867 36.15 Holland-Bukit Timah GRC 5 118,092 PAP De Souza Christopher JFoo Yee ShoonLiang Eng HwaLim Swee SayVivian Balakrishnan Walkover WalkoverHong Kah GRC5 144,609 PAP Amy Khor Lean SuanAng Mong SengYeo Cheow TongYeo Khirn Hai AlvinZaqy B Mohamad Walkover Walkover Jalan Besar GRC 5 92,963 PAP Denise Phua Lay PengHeng Chee HowLee Boon YangLily NeoYaacob Ibrahim 58,898 68.26 SDA Cheo Chai ChenFong Chin Leong, RenoMuhamad Ali AmanSebastian Teo Kway HwangVincent Yeo Boon Keng 26,146 30.74 Jurong GRC 5 116,573 PAP Grace Fu Hai YienHalimah Bte YacobLim Boon HengOng Chit ChungTharman Shanmugaratnam Walkover WalkoverMarine Parade GRC6 155,106 PAP Fatimah LateefGoh Chok TongLim Biow ChuanMuhammad Faishal IbrahimOng Seh HongSeah Kian Peng Walkover Walkover Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC 6 178,393 PAP Ahmad Bin Mohd MagadCharles Chong You FookMichael Anthony PalmerPenny LowTeo Chee HeanTeo Ser Luck 113,271 68.70 SDA Ishak Bin HarounLim Bak Chuan, DesmondLineker Lee Hock HuatMohd Hamim Bin AliyasOng Beng Soon, ElvinYen Kim Khooi 51,610 31.30 Sembawang GRC 6 184,752 PAP Ellen Lee Geck HoonHawazi DaipiK ShanmugamKhaw Boon WanLim Wee KiakMohd Maliki Osman 130,142 76.70 SDP Chee Siok ChinChristopher Neo Ting WeiFrancis Yong Chu LeongGerald Sng Choon GuanMohd Isa Abdul AzizNarayanasamy Gogelavany 39,534 23.30 Tampines GRC 5 126,078 PAP Mah Bow TanMasagos Zulkifli Bin Masagos MohamadNg Phek Hoong, IreneOng Kian MinSin Boon Ann 80,356 68.51 SDA Abdul Rahman MohamadLim Tung Hee, ArtheroNg Say EngOng Hock SiongTan Lead Shake 36,942 31.49Tanjong Pagar GRC6 148,095 PAP Baey Yam KengIndranee Thurai RajahKoo Tsai KeeLee Kuan YewLui Tuck YewTan Chin Siong Walkover WalkoverWest Coast GRC5 137,685 PAP Fong Jen ArthurFoo Chee Keng CedericHo Geok Choo MadeleineIswaran SLim Hng Kiang Walkover Walkover Single Member Constituency (SMC) Bukit Panjang SMC 1 30,448 PAP Teo Ho Pin 21,647 77.18 SDP Ling How Doong 6,400 22.82 Chua Chu Kang SMC 1 24,959 PAP Gan Kim Yong 14,151 60.37 SDA Steve Chia Kiah Hong 9,290 39.63 Hougang SMC 1 23,741 PAP Eric Low Siak Meng 8,306 37.26 WP Low Thia Khiang 13,987 62.74 Joo Chiat SMC 1 21,828 PAP Chan Soo Sen 12,222 65.01 WP Tan Bing Seng 6,577 34.99 MacPherson SMC 1 21,026 PAP Matthias Yao 13,182 68.28 SDA Sin Kek Tong 6,067 31.52 Nee Soon Central SMC 1 23,135 PAP Ong Ah Heng 14,210 65.37 WP Lian Chin Way 7,587 34.63 Nee Soon East SMC 1 32,569 PAP Ho Peng Kee 20,945 68.72 WP Poh Lee Guan 9,533 31.28 Potong Pasir SMC 1 15,864 PAP Sitoh Yih Pin 6,518 44.16 SDA Chiam See Tong 8,542 55.84 Yio Chu Kang SMC 1 25,073 PAP Seng Han Thong 15,721 68.27 SDA Yip Yew Weng 7,305 31.73