Associate professor Alan Chong of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies said there are Singaporeans who hold very liberal views and will continue to vote for the Opposition. “But people are still looking for the right Opposition and so on.”

He expected the smaller Opposition parties to possibly undergo a period of internal reorganisation. “So some people will have to be pushed out of the party, some people will voluntarily leave. There will be leadership renewal, there will be more infighting before they can consolidate,” he said.

He added that the WP itself went through difficult periods, where some members left and the party’s leaders had to manoeuvre for their “ideal combination”. “It’s in the nature of successful political parties,” he said.