Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's party returned to power as expected Sunday in a general election but failed to receive the ringing endorsement he sought as the opposition made significant gains in Parliament.
Grabbing 39 percent of the vote and landing four candidates in Parliament in Singapore's ninth general election since gaining self-rule in 1959, Goh's opposition continued chipping away at the political hold of his ruling People's Action Party.In the 1988 election the opposition received 38 percent of the vote and won just one seat in the 81-member Parliament. Over the past 23 years the opposition had managed to seat just three members in Parliament, covering six elections.
Goh, in office since last autumn, called for elections two years early as a public test of his political legitimacy and the policies he wants to institute to carry the tiny island nation into the 21st century.
The PAP was guaranteed continued rule because the opposition ran for just 40 of the 81 parliamentary seats available in the election. But while the PAP was assured victory, the size and scope of Saturday's vote may signal problems for Goh and his tenure as Singapore's second prime minister. He had said he would consider anything less than the 62 percent the PAP received in the last election a "weak signal."
Formerly deputy prime minister, Goh was handed power in November when Lee Kuan Yew stepped down in an orchestrated transfer of rule. Goh's style of governing is considered more open as compared to the autocratic Lee.
The elections were the first in which Lee did not run for prime minister since Singapore gained self-rule. The elder statesman, credited with single-handedly propelling Singapore into an economic powerhouse, remains a senior minister in the Cabinet and the secretary-general of the PAP.
The new government will be empowered for five years.