GE2025: With storms, cheers and mandates, Singapore votes in the age of PM Lawrence Wong
PM Lawrence Wong (second from right) and his fellow Marsiling-Yew Tee candidate, Mr Alex Yam (right), arriving at Yio Chu Kang Stadium on May 3.ST PHOTO: LIM YAOHUI
Cherie Lok,
Stephanie Yeo and
Carmen Sin
May 04, 2025
SINGAPORE – Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has spent the last few weeks warning of an approaching storm. To weather the challenges ahead, the nation’s most pre-eminent weatherman had repeatedly called for a “dedicated and experienced team” with “capable leaders”, operating under the assurance of a clear mandate.
But by 11pm on May 3, as sample counts rolled in, the skies over Singapore’s future began to clear. The PAP had secured a decisive victory in PM Wong’s first electoral test as leader, winning a strong mandate with vote shares close to 82 per cent in some constituencies and
an overall national vote of 65.57 per cent.
Striding into Yio Chu Kang Stadium at 11.25pm, where scores of supporters and candidates were gathered, relief was written all over his face.
His arrival capped off a night to remember for triumphant PAP supporters. Exultation had been surging steadily all evening, with each result – save the WP’s edge in Sengkang, Hougang and Aljunied, which was met with stark silence – sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Signs fluttered, whistles split the air. There was hooting, hollering and resounding chants of “PAP, PAP, PAP”.
“That’s insane! Xie Yao Quan is a legend!” yelled one white-clad young man, leaping up and down on the bleachers, after the sample count for Jurong Central SMC – a whopping 81 per cent – was announced.
Despite the long night that stretched ahead of them, supporters had flocked to the assembly centre from as early as 7.30pm. Ms Goh, a mother of two, wanted to gift her children the experience of witnessing how the votes of the people can shape the future of the country.
“It’s quite an interesting event. It’s been 10 years since the last (physical election watch party), when they weren’t even born yet,” said the 39-year-old, who works in early childhood.
Others came from farther afield – the stadium, after all, was the gathering point for multiple constituencies, including Jalan Kayu SMC, where the PAP’s eventually victorious Mr Ng Chee Meng
faced off against WP newcomer Andre Low. One tourist, visiting from Myanmar, even dropped in to soak up the atmosphere.
In the early hours of the evening, the air already pulsed with a quiet confidence. Marsiling-Yew Tee voter Jpaul Lai, 40, was bullish about the ruling party’s chances, even in the more hotly contested wards.
“We might see a substantial increase in opposition votes, but I think the PAP will prevail,” he said, adding that he thinks PM Wong has taken over the reins with relative aplomb.
Confirmation, when it came, was simply the icing on an exquisitely sweet cake.
“I’m super happy,” said party member Murugesan Sethu, 52. “It’s not just the mandate the PM wanted. It’s a mandate the people want.”
For this, PM Wong thanked voters in his victory speech, promising to honour the trust placed in him and to work even harder.
After his running mates had their say, he approached the barricades to receive the well wishes of eager supporters. Backstage, he concluded this modest victory lap with the congratulations of his fellow PAP candidates, before taking his wife’s hand and stepping into the clear indigo morning of another day.
The jubilation was no less intense at Bedok Stadium, one of the designated assembly centres for the PAP. Curiosity and entertainment seemed to be the main drivers for many who were there.
Ms Lau had come from her home in Punggol to watch the election results live with her friend, Ms Wong, who lives in East Coast GRC. Both declined to reveal their full names.
The 30-something friends had initially thought of heading to Serangoon Stadium, where the WP’s assembly centre was, but were deterred by the possible crowds.
“We’re typical Singaporeans, just joining in the fun,” Ms Wong said.
Ms Lau quipped: “I’m so excited for Punggol.”
“The fight here is more challenging,” said a civil servant in his 40s of the hotly contested GRCs of Tampines and Punggol. The Punggol GRC resident, who declined to be named, had come to Bedok to visit his mother-in-law and arrived at the stadium with his wife and sister-in-law.
PAP supporters cheering at Bedok Stadium early on May 4.ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
From 9pm, a sea of PAP supporters surged in, waving posters and hoisting glowing lightning signs high into the night. The atmosphere crackled with energy as air horns blared and hand clappers echoed through the crowd. In a show of coordinated flair, one group dramatically unfurled a giant purple banner emblazoned with a bold message: “We (heart sign) Edwin Tong.”
And when the East Coast GRC anchor arrived, several members of the public rushed to shake his hand after he posed for photos with party supporters.
East Coast GRC anchor minister Edwin Tong arriving at Bedok Stadium on May 3.ST PHOTO: JASON QUAH
High up in the stands, 59-year-old driver Abdullah Sulaiman quietly watched the scene unfold, his wife by his side. Nearby, their two-year-old grandson clambered and twirled a party flag, blissfully unaware that he was witnessing a slice of history in the making.
The Bedok North resident, who is from Aljunied GRC, said: “I prefer live results. You can see what’s happening and see people shouting (with joy).”
Several young families turned the night into a civic outing, bringing their children along to soak in the buzz. Among them were the Chuas, who happily pushed back their daughters’ 10pm bedtime so the girls could witness democracy in action.
“This happens once in every five years and we wanted them to experience the election. The five-year-old still doesn’t understand, but since her sister is here, she will just tag along,” said Mr Chua, in his 30s, who lives near the stadium and is in East Coast GRC.
“Why are you so excited?” he asked his elder daughter, who is seven.
“Because I like PAP,” she said.
As more sample counts in the PAP’s favour were announced on the live television feed on stage, the pragmatic public grew more excited. Cheers broke out as victories in Tampines and Punggol were confirmed – but it was East Coast GRC’s sample count that brought the house down.
Mr Chua said simply: “The results reflect what people want.”
But even as the cheers rang out for East Coast GRC, the night’s narrative was far from over. The stage was set for a reckoning at Serangoon Stadium, where the opposition’s blue shirts prepared for their own moment of truth.
It was late into the count, 15 minutes past midnight, when man of the hour Pritam Singh showed up.
The last time the WP chief was here on polling night was 2015 and the judgment was harsh. Mr Singh, then still second to Mr Low Thia Khiang, had at the declaration of his team’s white-knuckled
victory in Aljunied GRC – by a margin of 1.9 percentage points – kept hands in pockets, lips downturned and breath held. A win with the sting of warning.
Ten years from that cheerless poll, tonight’s reckoning felt like a puzzling deja vu for the fortified blue shirts.
The WP, only three years younger than the PAP, had launched its most ambitious play yet. It had gunned for five GRCs, two for the first time, in effect meeting the ruling party at its own high-rolling game of “winner takes all”.
It fielded a plum slate, its best yet, said party chairperson Sylvia Lim, with a senior counsel, a former diplomat and a Harvard graduate in the mix, daring voters into comparison with the PAP’s cull of the civil service.
So two rams locked horns. One named caution, the other, change. And the country chose the status quo.
Over the honking, whistling and affectionate heckling of their support base, losing and winning candidates took the stage.
Mr Singh opened with bonhomie (“good morning!”), then said: “It was always going to be a difficult election. The slate is wiped clean. We start work again tomorrow and we go again.”
It was not the message of champions, though the WP had finished with an outcome a less hopeful team might have been pleased with – improved margins in most of its territories and a net gain in Parliament
with two NCMP seats.
WP supporters cheering at Serangoon Stadium on May 3.ST PHOTO: AZMI ATHNI
But they had misread the room, upping the ante for the PAP’s first electoral outing under PM Wong. If the first leader of the opposition had foreseen this earlier, he did not let on.
He was discreet in the evening, arriving alone at polling stations in his Eunos ward to drop off packed dinners for volunteers – a WP tradition. The skies were still blue enough for composure, and the by-now old hand walked with his usual swagger, lanyard swinging.
Perhaps he gathered himself in the hours before his late appearance at the WP’s party. He walked into the stadium, to fans more festive than he, stolid and professional. Immediately, he got to work clasping hands of volunteers, walking to join Mr Harpreet Singh’s listening family as the WP’s star catch gave his losing speech.
Rinse and repeat for the candidates. The first teams to arrive from Punggol and East Coast, led by a seemingly unruffled Mr Harpreet Singh, were all polite patter and smiles, after uncomfortably white sample counts. They dropped the act as the night wore on.
The WP’s Punggol GRC candidates (from left) Jackson Au, Alia Mattar, Harpreet Singh and Alexis Dang at Serangoon Stadium early on May 4.ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
Returning veteran for East Coast GRC Yee Jenn Jong flashed a pout at the PAP’s early 59 per cent coup. Then, he paced away with one hand in pocket, looking more bowed than before at his third, and likely last, loss on his home turf. He sat teary and alone backstage as his colleagues gave their addresses.
The WP’s East Coast GRC candidates (from left) Sufyan Mikhail Putra, Nathaniel Koh, Yee Jenn Jong, Jasper Kuan and Paris V. Parameswari at Serangoon Stadium early on May 4.ST PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
Last election’s man of the match Jamus Lim arranged his face outside the stadium as he waited to enter with running mate Abdul Muhaimin and Tampines hopeful Jimmy Tan, managing a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.
The waiting crowd, whose calm began to fissure with the very first sample counts, turned kind at the sight of the men and women in blue.
Drubbings for the opposition not seen since the PAP’s last rebound in 2015 – like a
sub-40 per cent for SDP star Paul Tambyah – tempered the mood among supporters, who instead cheered lustily for Sengkang.
The SDP’s Bukit Panjang candidate Paul Tambyah greeting a supporter at MOE (Evans) Stadium on May 3.ST PHOTO: TARYN NG
There was levity, too, for the narrow loss in Jalan Kayu. “Welcome to Parliament, Andre” and “boycott prata at Jalan Kayu”, they cried as the newcomer came on.
For some, like WP vice-chairman Faisal Manap, it might well have been the last bow. But the crowd ended cheery.
WP vice-chairman Faisal Manap leaving Serangoon Stadium on May 4.ST PHOTO: CHONG JUN LIANG
A 68-year-old self-professed “day one” WP voter, blue since the 80s, might have summed it up: “As long as they keep (what they have), I happy already.” He left early.
Unlike the barnstorming rallies of the hustings, there were plenty of blank patches in the stands and fields of the stadium. After nine days of sound and fury, it turned out that many had come, but only a loyal few had stayed to the end.
