Leaders and candidates from Singapore’s alternative parties gathered at the Elections Department (ELD) headquarters on 15 May 2025 to observe the counting of votes cast by overseas Singaporeans in the General Election.
This year marked the first time in a parliamentary general election that overseas voters could cast their ballots via post. Previously, overseas Singaporeans could only vote in person at designated overseas polling stations.
Among those present were Workers’ Party (WP) chair Sylvia Lim, Sengkang GRC MP He Ting Ru, Tampines GRC candidates Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap and Michael Thng, Hougang MP Dennis Tan, and East Coast GRC candidate Yee Jenn Jong.
Other WP members included Paris V Parameswari, Nathaniel Koh, Jasper Kuan, and Sufyan Mikhail Putra.
Progress Singapore Party (PSP) secretary-general Leong Mun Wai and Bukit Gombak SMC candidate Harish Pillay also attended. Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) chief Desmond Lim was present as well.
Nathaniel Koh, in a Facebook post, emphasised the historic nature of the process.
“For the first time in a Parliamentary General Election, registered overseas voters were able to cast their ballots by post,” he wrote.
He described observing the verification process, noting that both automated systems and manual checks against specimen signatures were used.
“While the overseas votes may not have changed the final outcome, every Singaporean matters, and every vote truly counts,” he added.
Over 17,000 overseas Singaporeans registered to vote in GE2025
According to the Elections Department (ELD), a total of 17,237 overseas Singaporeans registered to vote in the 2025 General Election.
Of the 8,091 who opted to vote in person, 5,966 cast their ballots at one of ten overseas polling stations.
Separately, 9,146 registered as postal voters, with 7,808 downloading their ballots.
Of these, 6,097 were returned by the stipulated deadline, and 3,363 were accepted for counting.
Adding to the domestic votes cast on Polling Day on 3 May, the total number of votes in GE2025 stood at 2,438,610, including 42,945 rejected ballots.
ELD reported that 92.83 per cent of registered electors voted, reflecting a slight increase from the 92.47 per cent recorded before overseas votes were included.
Overseas votes closely mirrored local voting trends, though a few exceptions stood out.
In Sembawang West SMC, Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan received 23 valid overseas votes, compared to 21 for People’s Action Party (PAP) candidate Poh Li San.
Despite this, Poh won the constituency with 53.18 per cent of the overall vote.
In Bukit Panjang SMC, both PAP’s Liang Eng Hwa and SDP chair Paul Tambyah received 36 overseas votes each, though Liang secured victory with 61.38 per cent locally.
The WP outperformed the PAP in terms of valid overseas votes in Aljunied GRC, Sengkang GRC, and Hougang SMC—constituencies that WP successfully defended.
Nationally, the ruling PAP, led by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, won 87 out of 97 seats, improving its vote share from 61.24 per cent in 2020 to 65.57 per cent in 2025.
Its strongest results came in Queenstown SMC and Tanjong Pagar GRC, where it secured 81.13 and 81.02 per cent of votes, respectively.
Overseas vote counting begins no earlier than ten days after Polling Day, allowing time for ballots to arrive.
A pre-count examination is conducted to exclude invalid submissions, such as torn envelopes or late postings.
The rules for rejecting overseas votes mirror those for domestic ballots.
A recount of overseas votes may be triggered under two conditions: if the number of registered overseas voters equals or exceeds the vote margin between the top two candidates locally, and if the final margin of victory is within 2 per cent of total valid votes cast.
While overseas votes did not affect any final outcomes, observers viewed their inclusion as an important step in expanding democratic participation.
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