by Roy Ngerng
For me, what this election shows is how the moderate voter perceives the opposition parties.
The general picture paints one of a national vote swing away from the opposition, but it’s more nuanced.
The Workers’ Party (WP) maintained their votes or even grew them in most constituencies.
Moderate voters exist not just in Singapore, but everywhere else too, even in the most progressive democracies (including my own experience in Taiwan), and they may tend to be less political or apathetic, so to speak. It’s not unique to Singapore, however, “uniquely Singapore” is.
There is general concern about the global state of affairs among moderate voters, but I think what this election shows is that what happens before the election may be more significant to moderate voters.
If moderate middle-ground voters are less drawn in by the election campaign, then what sticks are brand reputation, either by how a party entrenches itself in parliament, in how it builds its brand over the years, and also importantly, how they are framed or attacked by the ruling party, and how it is presented in the news.
The WP has worked its brand so strongly now that it sticks, so the smears during or before the election campaign against them have less effect. But it’s not the same for other opposition parties, even the ones with a presence in parliament.
While the performance of Progress Singapore Party (PSP) candidates are obvious to the outward opposition supporter, but for moderate voters, what they may hear is how Tan See Leng mocked Leong Mun Wai in Cantonese, and this is what may stick.
We may have wondered why Tan See Leng made a sudden Cantonese remark, which may have appeared out of place and even dumb, but that remark may have never been presented for our consumption.
I also think it’s important to note that the WP, as leader of the opposition, did try to align messaging and policy ideas with the PSP, if you look at what both parties say during the election campaign and in their manifestos. So among major parties with traction, this was happening, and we there’s a need to appreciate it with fairness.
In the past, we’ve learned from WP’s performance, that we need strong walkabouts, Meet-the-People Sessions, we need to portray stability and calmness, we need to get credible candidates, and we need to play the long game, in order to build up your brand, to stick, and gain trust.
I think this election, it shows a bit more, how among moderate voters, they have concerns like average citizens—not a phenomenon unique to Singapore but also applies elsewhere—and concern about global tariffs did kick in.
Also, we may need more understanding about how smears against opposition parliamentary members from new parties may have quite a significant effect among moderate voters and less understood.
It should also be noted that Dr Chee Soon Juan also bucked the general trend and nearly won his seat. In there, Dr Chee demonstrated some of the qualities that appeal to moderate voters—he presented himself in a statesmen-ly way, he is smart and articulated policies clearly, but this is how he has been presenting himself for the last few elections anyway.
Most importantly, there were no smears against him this election, and thus voters were able to appreciate him for who he is, and therefore could recognise his perseverance, trust what he said, may have wondered why he’s not in parliament, and wanted to send him in. At last, the impact of the tariff situation won out.
Without the sudden tariff situation, it is arguable that the WP and Chee Soon Juan would have won all their seats. If the election is held even a bit later and the freshness of the tariffs has eroded, the WP may also have won all their seats. What is thus problematic is how the PAP has a monopoly over when election is called, and how long election campaigning is allowed.
But it’s important not to blame moderate voters, however unhappy we are. It only serves to push them further to the PAP. These voters likely do not have strong political inclination, and the most major news in the last few weeks is whatever sticks.
Again, this is not a phenomenon unique to Singapore because it exists in democracies like Taiwan, and it is a similar question that Taiwanese have about moderate voters.
The best bet is to keep on being calm, portray stability, provide clear-minded policies, walk the ground, support the opposition on the ground, and help them build up a brand that is resistant to smears.
This write-up was first published on Roy Ngerng’s blog and reproduced with permission
The post What sticks with the middle: Understanding moderate voters in Singapore’s election appeared first on The Online Citizen.
