Ruling party retains power but with reduced majority

Facemasked citizens lined up to vote, with plenty of space separating them from one another. Their temperatures had been checked. Before receiving their ballots Friday, they spritzed their hands with sanitizer, and many put on disposable gloves.

If any country could successfully carry out a general election during a global pandemic, it was surely Singapore, a rich, manicured citystate with a population that has largely been conditioned to follow the rules.

The winner was never in doubt, either, even though balloting was extended by two hours to accommodate the long lines.

But while victory went to the centerright People’s Action Party, which has held power longer than any other elected political party in the world, results released Saturday showed a surprising slip in its support. Its share of the popular vote fell to 61%, a nearly ninepoint swing from elections five years ago. The leading opposition party took a record 10 of Parliament’s 93 seats.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the 68yearold son of the nation’s founding father, said he would stay at the helm until the coronavirus crisis passed, and he acknowledged his weakened mandate.

“The results reflect the pain and anxiety that Singaporeans feel in this crisis, the loss of income, the anxiety about jobs,” Lee said Saturday.

Lee said his People’s Action Party secured 83 parliamentary seats.

Several of the parliamentary races proved surprisingly competitive, and highprofile candidates from the governing party lost their contests. Besides adding four seats to its previous showing, the opposition Workers’ Party won more than 10% of the popular vote for the first time.

“Singapore rode the wave of globalization to great heights, but with COVID, we’re entering a period of deglobalization that leaves Singapore’s economy very vulnerable,” said Bridget

Welsh, a political scientist focused on Southeast Asia.

The People’s Action Party promised, above all, stability and competence. Having led Singapore since even before independence in 1965, the party claims credit for transforming a resourcestarved backwater on the tip of peninsular Southeast Asia into one of the most prosperous nations on the planet.

Hannah Beech is a New York Times writer.