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Perspectives
Volume 98, No. 3

Gerrymandering and its Effects in Singapore’s 2025 General Elections  

Netina Tan

McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada

Keywords: Gerrymandering, redistricting, Singapore, partisan bias, malapportionment, electoral disproportionality

DOI: 10.5509/2025983-art6


  • English Abstract
  • Chinese Abstract
English Abstract
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Singapore experienced extensive electoral redistricting six weeks before polling day on May 3, 2025. Were the electoral boundary changes “gerrymandering in plain sight” as claimed by an opposition leader? And if so, did the People’s Action Party (PAP) benefit from the redistricting and malapportionment to maintain its legislative supermajority? This critical perspective finds that gerrymandering methods such as “packing,” “cracking,” and “stacking” were used in the redistricting of many new and altered constituencies. Based on the limited geospatial and electoral data available, the findings also show that the PAP gained in vote shares in all the altered and newly created group and single member constituencies, as compared to the opposition parties, since the last general elections. While malapportionment and electoral disproportionality have both improved, creating more single member seats and removing the larger five-member group constituencies would achieve fairer apportionment and more equal representation of voters. Electoral reform would remove any concerns that the PAP won based on an unfair advantage.

Chinese Abstract
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视角

新加坡2025年大选中的选区划分不公正及其影响

关键词: 不公正划分选区、重新划分选区、新加坡、党派偏见、代表权分配不公、选举比例失衡

新加坡在2025年5月3日投票日的六周前经历了大规模的选区重划。选区边界的改变是否真如反对党领袖所言,是“显而易见的不公正划分选区”?答案如果是,人民行动党(PAP)是否从重划选区和不公平分配代表权中获益,从而维持了其立法机构的绝对多数? 运用批判性视角, 本文发现,诸如“打包”、“拆分”和“堆叠”等不公正划分选区的手段被运用在许多新增和变更选区的重划中。基于有限的地理空间和选举数据,研究结果还显示,自上次大选以来,与反对党相比,人民行动党在所有变更和新增的集体选区和单席选区的得票率均有所上升。虽然选区划分不公和选举比例失衡现象均有所改善,但增设更多单议席并取消规模更大的五人小组选区,将实现更公平的按比例分配和更平等的选民代表权。选举改革将消除任何关于人民行动党凭借不公平优势获胜的疑虑。

Read article on IngentaConnect (requires institutional subscription)

Pacific Affairs

An International Review of Asia and the Pacific

School of Public Policy and Global Affairs

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