Why so many Singaporeans voted for the opposition

IN THE WEE hours after Singapore’s election on July 10th hundreds of supporters of the Workers’ Party (WP), the main opposition outfit, streamed onto the streets to celebrate, in defiance of the city-state’s strict social-distancing rules. One would have been forgiven for thinking that the WP had won the election. In fact it took a trifling ten seats out of 93. But in Singapore, which has been ruled by the People’s Action Party (PAP) since independence in 1965, this was the best performance by an opposition party ever in terms of seats won, and the worst by the PAP. The ruling party’s share of the vote sank from almost 70% at the previous election, in 2015, to 61%.