Flight to Quality and a New Prime Minister’s Mandate: Singapore’s 2025 General Election

The 2025 general elections (GE) in Singapore returned the People’s Action Party (PAP) to power, with 65.57 percent of the vote share, an increase of more than 4 percent from 2020. The elections took place amidst global uncertainty. The results were more significant considering it was Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s first election as the leader of his party, and the first time that a new PM outperformed his predecessor. The Workers’ Party (WP), Singapore’s main opposition party, also did well in the constituencies it contested. The GE thus demonstrated both a flight to safety and flight to quality mindset on the part of voters, as evinced by the success of both the PAP and the WP. Even though the Trump tariffs—and the PAP making it a central issue in the campaign—moved voters in the direction of the PAP,such a shift was not universal, as the WP managed to resist this national swing. What this demonstrates is that if the opposition is deemed to be of “quality,” it is able to hold its own against the PAP. The elections also suggest that voters view “quality” as comprising not just party brand and candidate credibility, but a party’s ability to perform “on the ground,” or on municipal issues.