Singapore elections

[2952-0-0]

Elections are being held in Singapore today. As usual they are a semi-laughable farce, with gerrymandering, government propaganda, blatant advantages to the governing party, and so forth. But this time there appears to be more public interest and a record 82 out of 87 seats of the parliament are being contested (the other five are a single constituency which the opposition could not contest because they were officially 35 seconds late to submit their nomination form).

Remains to be seen if the opposition can make any headway.

[Novelty]

Aljunied GRC will be an interesting place to watch, as well as the neighbouring PP Constituency where Lina Chiam is contesting.  What time does polls close again?  I seriously hope it's raining cats and dogs there.

[Teddy (IDS Legislator)]

IIRC, Singapore uses an electoral-college like system, where if you win a constituency by even a single vote, you elect all 5 of it's members. When you add gerrymandering into the mix, it's hard to call Singapore a "Democracy"

[Novelty]

That's why it's interesting here.  For the first time, there is a chance that despite gerrymanding and MMunP, the opposition might make inroads... to the extent where the phrase "freak election result" has gained ground.

[Stranger in a strange land]

IIRC, Singapore uses an electoral-college like system, where if you win a constituency by even a single vote, you elect all 5 of it's members. When you add gerrymandering into the mix, it's hard to call Singapore a "Democracy"

Singapore doesn't seem interested in pretending to be a democracy. Most Singaporeans I've met describe it as a "meritocracy" or "technocracy," and most people are content enough with the status quo that they don't have much interest in changing it.

[ottermax]

In a small state like Singapore, their system works. When you have a giant city where most people live in apartment blocks or condominiums, the ideal "town-hall" style for a local government obviously doesn't work, but Singapore just isn't big enough to have the true democratic process of a representative body represented by different districts.

I think the difference between most Asian democracies and European/American democracies is that Asians try to give the government the benefit of the doubt, while other democracies immediately question the government. And if the economy is booming like it is in Singapore why would you want a radical government change anyways?

[2952-0-0]

Results are in and the PAP has a record low 60.14% of the popular vote, gaining only 81 of 87 seats. Two cabinet ministers have lost their seats. Although this means nothing in practical terms, it's a huge morale boost for the opposition.

In a small state like Singapore, their system works. When you have a giant city where most people live in apartment blocks or condominiums, the ideal "town-hall" style for a local government obviously doesn't work, but Singapore just isn't big enough to have the true democratic process of a representative body represented by different districts.

Not necessarily. Hong Kong is also a small, dense city-state (one without complete sovereignty), yet local elected government does exist. It's not quite practical to have a single government managing a large global city of millions of people.

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This is a misconception. Plenty of cynicism towards government exists in the Confucian societies and scandals/controversies exist in all societies. The difference is that there is less incentive to "rise up" for the sake of "rising up", when there is less of a background reason to do so. But when a background reason emerges, the public can be very demanding and cruel towards their governments. Elections in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Korea are very lively and chaotic compared to those in the west.