My Take on GE 2015

[JohnTan]

Yes, cheer up guys. All is not lost in GE2015, I see some positives in WP's performance in this GE.

The huge positive is that WP still manage to retain Aljunied GRC despite PAP's dirty politics of withholding public money, WP only suffer a 3.75% drop in Aljunied compared to the national 10% swing to PAP. Not only that, WP has actually improved their votes in some wards like Eunos, Kaki Bukit and Bedok Reservoir compared with GE2011. Looks like more lower income families and Malays are convinced about WP, and are voting and supporting the party.

WP was pulled down by Serangoon and Paya Lebar, both have significant number of private homes and upper middle-income families. My guess is that the large number of angry protest votes against PAP from middle-income families seen in GE2011 have dissipate in this GE.

Compared to the national results, the Aljunied results shows that many middle ground voters like their WP MPs and support the party. I think Aljunied can be the next stronghold for WP if the party leaders and MPs continue to work hard on the ground and in parliament. Also improving the cleanliness and maintenance of the HDB estates by WP's town council will win over more middle ground voters in the next GE.

WP is not weaken badly by this GE, they have good leaders, a presence in parliament, and a strong supporter base to build on. But this GE results shows that WP needs to rely less on protest votes and work harder to convince more middle-ground voters and middle-income voters to support the party, in order to gain more seats in the next GE.

Not surprised that Sylvia Lim and Chen pulled down WP's votes. Sylvia was too cocky and doesn't come across as friendly. That's feedback from some of my kakis in her ward. Her comments about eating fengshan was also seen as cocky by her ward people. Chen was voted in because of the way WP marketed him. A lot of people had high hopes for him, but Chen disappointed the residents. He did not make any sort of impact in Parliament despite styling himself as a 'Wei Zheng'.

Most of the hard questions and checking were done by activists like Roy, Gilbert and Jolovan, who often challenged the government on public issues like CPF, unfair employment practices and treatment of menial foreign workers.

Look at the name of WP. It is called WORKERS' Party. I don't see it doing much for the blue-collared workers or PMETs. While you may dislike NTUC and think of it as a farce, it still does more than a party that calls itself a party for the workers.

 

[ThrillSeeker]

check out my new moderated clone reply 24 hours later. cheers.