If the PAP is guilty of playing up the narrative of a “freak election” result, then Pritam Singh and Workers’ Party (WP) are also guilty of doing the same. In a social media post yesterday, Pritam Singh shared his thoughts about the EBRC report. And once again, he played up the prospect of an opposition wipeout.
But Pritam Singh does not himself enough credit. Using the same narrative of an “opposition wipeout” to great effect, the WP won an unprecedented 10 seats in the 2020 General Election under his watch. The WP also came close in Marine Parade, East Coast and Punggol West.
In addition, the WP had improved on their vote share in the constituencies they contested. Indeed, the WP had secured 50.49% of the total votes in the six constituencies it had contested against the PAP. Very much the picture of a political party on the ascendency.
Wipeout?
Now, let us look at the likelihood of a WP “wipeout” at the coming General Election.
The electoral boundaries of the WP strongholds in Hougang, Aljunied and Sengkang have remained intact.
Do we realistically expect WP to lose in Hougang SMC? No.
Do we realistically expect WP to lose a bunch of unknowns in Aljunied PAP? No.
Do we really think that Jamus and co. will lose to Sengkang PAP and their cringeworthy TikTok videos? Come on.
The WP will be fielding their star candidate – Senior Counsel Harpreet Singh – in the coming GE. Star candidates have moved the needle for the WP in past GEs. In 2011, WP won Aljunied GRC when they fielded high-flying corporate lawyer Chen Show Mao to much fanfare. In 2020, WP won Sengkang GRC after netizens waxed lyrical over economics professor Jamus Lim. Harpreet Singh is likely to have a similar effect this GE.
WP is also riding on a strong global anti-incumbent wave. In 2024, many governments around the world that held elections saw their vote share fall drastically, with a change in government occurring in many countries. Singapore is not immune to these patterns, having similarly suffered the effects of global inflation and its discontents.
Pritam’s Playbook
Pritam Singh’s playbook is plain: he intends to challenge the PAP in even more areas. He knows that the EBRC report has created new opportunities for him and the WP. As is well known, the WP is now eyeing Tampines GRC and the new Punggol GRC, in additional to the areas they had previously contested.
He has also shifted his objectives. In 2019, Pritam Singh said that the WP’s medium-term goal was to contest and win one-third of seats in Parliament. At the start of this year, he said that at least one-third of elected MPs must be from the opposition, given today’s political context.
The WP seems set on contesting at least 30 seats this GE. This will be the WP’s largest ever slate of candidates. Considering the PSP’s and SDP’s candidates, the ‘Big Three’ opposition bloc will contest more 50% of the total number of seats in Parliament.
Instead of stoking fears of an opposition wipeout, the honest and responsible thing for Pritam Singh to do should be to highlight WP’s plans post-GE if the opposition does very well. Is he going to enter in a coalition with the PAP, or with the PSP and SDP? How would his government govern? What policies would he keep or change?
But it seems that honesty and responsibility are areas Pritam struggles with.
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