'Opposition in S'pore has come a long way': Redditors share 'silver linings' in GE2025 results

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PAP wins big, minimal gains for opposition parties this GE2025

Last Saturday (3 May), Singaporeans went to the polls to elect the country’s leaders for the next five years.

Since the 2025 General Election (GE2025) results were announced that night, mixed sentiments have lingered in the air.

The People’s Action Party (PAP) secured a strong parliamentary majority with 65.57% of the vote, and will once again form the government.

Source: Lawrence Wong on Facebook

Opposition parties, however, faced a disappointing outcome this GE — with some recording results that were not only underwhelming, but even embarrassing.

While the Workers’ Party (WP) held on to its traditional strongholds — Aljunied and Sengkang Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs), and Hougang Single Member Constituency (SMC) — much of the mixed sentiment stems from its inability to make further inroads.

The party failed to win any of the new constituencies it contested, including Punggol, Tampines, and East Coast GRCs, as well as Jalan Kayu SMC.

Redditor highlights ‘silver linings’ in GE results

Amid the post-election disappointment, some chose to look on the bright side, spotlighting small wins in an otherwise sobering result.

One Redditor acknowledged the general sentiment among opposition supporters, but also pointed out a few encouraging takeaways from this GE.

In a thread titled “Silver Lining for this GE”, which has garnered over 290 comments since it was posted on Sunday (4 May), the original poster (OP) offered a more optimistic perspective.

Source: r/singapore on Reddit

They highlighted statistical gains as a silver lining, even though they noted that the opposition didn’t secure any new seats in Parliament.

The Redditor noted that the Sengkang team did well and strengthened its vote share by 4%, from 52% to 56% — a figure that’s “very close to Aljunied’s 59%”.

In their view, the WP has “arguably gained a second stronghold GRC, which is absolutely huge for them”.

Source: The Workers’ Party on Facebook

Attention was also drawn to the close fight put up by the WP’s new slate of candidates in Punggol GRC, where they went up against Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) Gan Kim Yong.

For four brand new faces to win 46% of the vote with only nine days of campaigning, the OP said, “is nothing to scoff at”.

They added that Punggol, with its “natural boundaries”, isn’t easily split — and if the WP holds the current team and continues engaging with voters over the next five years, “it could very well be theirs next GE”.

Finally, the post gave a special shout-out to Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Dr Chee Soon Juan for his valiant effort in Sembawang West SMC.

‘Opposition in Singapore has come a long way’: Redditors weigh in

Netizens quickly shared their thoughts, with many echoing the OP’s sentiments.

One user pointed out that younger voters have not experienced the “dark times” of limited opposition presence.

“To be disappointed that the WP ‘only’ wins 10 seats is something you shouldn’t take for granted,” they wrote, noting that this “would have been unthinkable just one election cycle ago”.

Source: Reddit

“WP consolidated their seats into strongholds, and made serious gains in brand new areas with brand new guys walking the ground,” they added. “We are on the right track.”

For 14 years, Singapore had only two opposition MPs.

“Opposition in (Singapore) has come a long, long way,” another user remarked.

Source: Reddit

A different user highlighted that the WP had not contested in Punggol and Tampines until this GE.

Despite the National Solidarity Party’s (NSP) presence in Tampines for 20 years — with the NSP securing 33% of the vote in the 2020 GE — the WP managed to swipe a remarkable 47.37%, which “almost flipped” the PAP and completely ousted the NSP.