‘Natural that voters want it all': Why specific estate plans still mattered in GE2025

The results of GE2025 show that a considered town plan and municipal management chops have become baseline expectations for many voters here. ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
News analysis 'Natural that voters want it all': Why specific estate plans still mattered in GE2025
SINGAPORE – More sheltered walkways and cleaner estates may appear as rather provincial concerns, but the results of the 2025 General Election show that a considered town plan and municipal management chops have become baseline expectations for many voters here.
Much has been written about how the Singaporean voter has become more discerning in assessing the calibre, credibility and ground presence of candidates seeking election, but understated is his desire for his neighbourhood to continue being improved, with a well-run town council being a given.
While the national swing towards the PAP can broadly be seen as an endorsement of its call to assemble a strong leadership team in the face of external challenges, analysts noted how the ruling party got down to brass tacks when it came to constituency-level report cards, in terms of specific projects delivered and those to come.
Conversely, political parties that glossed over municipal plans or were perceived to have a credibility gap in carrying out said plans suffered at the polls.
Associate Professor Walter Theseira noted that while all opposition candidates would claim the ability and willingness to confront the PAP in Parliament, the emphasis on town council matters during the campaign reminded the public to consider the credibility and quality of each candidate in delivering on the basics.
'It is natural that voters want it all: They want quality representation of their views in Parliament as well as effective ground management,' said the Singapore University of Social Sciences economist.
He added: 'Town council management can't be separated from the overall quality of the candidate as well as the party backing them.'
Contributing factor in SMC outcomes
Singapore Management University (SMU) law don Eugene Tan said municipal issues will continue to feature at the local level of each general election, even if in the grander scheme they do not weigh as heavily on voters' decisions as other issues.
This was why the PAP took pains during – and even before – the hustings to tell residents in the six new single-member constituencies created ahead of the election that their estates would continue to be well taken care of.
For instance, under this group representation constituency-plus-one narrative, residents in Jalan Kayu SMC continue to be part of Ang Mo Kio's 'extended family' while those in Queenstown SMC are 'part of our team of brothers and sisters' in Tanjong Pagar GRC, according to PAP candidates.
This narrative was most clearly articulated when Health Minister Ong Ye Kung urged voters to keep Ms Poh Li San part of the 'Sembawang family' by voting for her over Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan.
During campaigning, Mr Ong – who anchors neighbouring Sembawang GRC – said Dr Chee did not want Sembawang West SMC to be part of the bigger Sembawang family, as this would be politically disadvantageous for Dr Chee.
This came after Dr Chee criticised Mr Ong's plan to assign Woodlands Galaxy Community Club – which falls just outside Sembawang West's boundaries – to the new SMC.
'Better for him that Sembawang West, you become a lonely island, cut off from the rest of Sembawang Town,' Mr Ong said at a PAP rally. Ms Poh edged out Dr Chee with 53.19 per cent of the vote.
Professor Tan said that having an SMC pegged to a GRC is meant to assure voters that estate management and improvement will be properly taken care of. This is a plus point but not a game changer, and the election results validated MPs who had walked and worked the ground over the past electoral cycle, he added.
This was most evident in the new Queenstown and Jurong Central SMCs, where the vote shares of the two incumbent PAP MPs – Mr Eric Chua and Mr Xie Yao Quan repectively – exceeded 80 per cent, albeit against smaller opposition parties.
Another example was the rematch in Bukit Panjang SMC, where PAP stalwart Liang Eng Hwa bettered his result compared with the close fight in 2020 when he first stepped into the single seat. Mr Liang took 61.41 per cent of the vote this round, against SDP chairman Paul Tambyah.
Dr Tambyah said during the hustings that estate projects and services would continue even if SDP candidates prevailed over their PAP opponents.
This drew a response from Mr Liang who said Dr Tambyah was 'naive' to think that constituency projects would continue on 'autopilot' under a new MP.
This was as MPs play an important role in advocating for residents as well as working with the Government to bring needed projects to the constituency, he argued.
Municipal record helped WP fend off jabs
Meanwhile, the WP's ability to consolidate and improve its position this election suggests that voters agreed it was doing a good job in town council management, as well as politically, said Prof Theseira.
The WP made sure to highlight its performance in recent town council report cards to tell voters it had overcome the difficulties it faced in Aljunied after 2011 – which resulted in long-running civil suits that were settled in 2024 – and that towns under its charge were as competently managed as those under the PAP.
During the campaign, the WP's He Ting Ru had said Sengkang Town Council, which she chairs, achieved the top (green) banding for estate cleanliness in the Ministry of National Development's town council management report since the WP took over management of the town.
A day later, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong remarked at a doorstop in the WP-held Aljunied that 'yes, all the markers are green, but some markers are greener than others'. In later rally speeches, the PAP took aim at the WP's estate management in Sengkang GRC, alleging that basic standards had slipped.
Prof Theseira said the WP's vote share showed that it was able to shrug off the narrative that it was not able to competently and transparently manage town councils.
Conversely, voters appeared to have penalised opposition parties that did not put enough emphasis on competent town management.
PSP chief Leong Mun Wai, who was one of five candidates who lost in West Coast-Jurong West GRC, said the main role of an MP is to debate national policies and not be estate managers who are interested only in local issues.
He was responding to a comment by his PAP opponent, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee, who said residents should ask contesting parties about their plans for the constituency.
SMU's Prof Tan called the PSP's approach 'untenable' and that its lack of sensitivity to municipal concerns may have contributed to its poor showing.
'(PSP) seemed to have ignored voters' concerns about estate management and improvement… For the voters, if the MPs are not going to take care of their estates, who will?' he asked.
Mr Leong's PSP team lost to Mr Lee's PAP slate, which polled 60.01 per cent of the vote this round, up from 51.68 per cent in 2020.
Ground knowledge may have also been why Mr Darryl Lo, an independent candidate and unknown before the election, managed to secure 23.47 per cent of the vote in Radin Mas SMC, compared with People's Alliance for Reform's Kumar Appavoo's 7.36 per cent.
While it was Mr Kumar's fourth general election, Mr Lo grew up and lived in Radin Mas, and ran a campaign that had both policy ideas and estate-level suggestions, including cleanliness issues in the Bukit Purmei area and to have a dog run in the constituency.
Mr Lo's vote share beat out the performance of many of the smaller opposition parties in single seats, and contributed to independent candidates turning in their best election results here in over five decades.
'One can read much into how voters preferred a young but well-qualified, on paper, candidate in Radin Mas to an opposition candidate who had contested the area multiple times prior,' said Prof Theseira.
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