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| Southeast Asia |
| Singapore party returned to power |
| 2006-05-07 |
 The party that has ruled Singapore for four decades, has won another overwhelming mandate, but failed to achieve the clean sweep of all parliamentary seats it had hoped for. The People's Action Party (PAP) on Saturday won 66.6% of the votes cast, down from 75.3% in the 2001 poll. But it held on to 82 seats in the 84-seat parliament, giving it an almost unchallenged free hand to continue its pro-business policies. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Article: The People's Action Party (PAP) on Saturday won 66.6% of the votes cast, down from 75.3% in the 2001 poll. By most standards, this is a landslide. But Singapore's ruling party controls the press and the judiciary. This means that the press toes the ruling party line, and judges always rule in favor of the ruling party in the incessant libel lawsuits (involving hundreds of thousands in money damages) filed against opposition politicians. A 9% fall in its share of the vote is pretty significant. |
| Posted by: Zhang Fei 2006-05-07 02:01 |