The significant swing in favour of the People’s Action Party (PAP) in yesterday’s polls surprised analysts, who said the party likely benefited from a “flight to safety” among voters.

The PAP was likely also helped by lingering sentiment from founding Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew’s death in March, as well as the jubilee year celebrations, they said.

Yesterday’s polls yielded a 9.8 percentage point gain for the PAP, compared with the 2011 General Election. This was the largest such move since the 2001 elections,when there was a 10.3 percentage point swing.

… S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies‘ Associate Professor Alan Chong said the PAP sent a strong message about its track record in the final few days on the hustings, and this made an impact on voters worried about an increasingly uncertain global outlook.

“Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong encouraged voters to think about the last 50 years, as well as about the very uncertain external situation now. This played to the PAP’s advantage,” he said.