GE2025: Overseas ballots counted, results largely reflect local voting patterns

SINGAPORE: Overseas votes in the recent General Election, which were counted by the Elections Department Singapore (ELD) on Thursday (May 15), largely reflected local voting patterns.

In a statement, ELD said that there were 17,237 registered overseas voters in all contested electoral divisions. This excludes those with registered Singapore NRIC addresses or local contact addresses within Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, which went uncontested due to a walkover.

ELD said that 5,966 out of 8,091 voters who had registered to vote in-person cast their votes at one of the 10 overseas polling stations. It added that 7,808 out of 9,146 postal voters downloaded the postal ballots. Of this figure, 6,097 were received in Singapore by the deadline stipulated and 3,363 were accepted for counting.

Adding to the votes cast in Singapore on Polling Day on May 3, the total number of votes cast in GE2025 is 2,438,610. This figure includes 42,945 rejected votes.

The overseas votes largely reflected local voting patterns, except in Sembawang West SMC, where Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) chief Chee Soon Juan garnered 23 valid votes, as compared to the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Poh Li San with 21. Ms Poh secured 53.18 per cent of the votes to beat Dr Chee.

In Bukit Panjang SMC, where PAP’s Liang Eng Hwa beat SDP chair Paul Tambyah with 61.38 per cent of the vote, both candidates received the same number of overseas votes – 36.

The Workers’ Party received more valid overseas votes than the PAP in Aljunied GRC, Sengkang GRC and Hougang SMC, which they retained. They ended the 2025 polls as the only opposition party to be elected to parliament.

The ruling PAP’s largest winning margins were in Queenstown SMC and Tanjong Pagar GRC, with 81.13 per cent and 81.02 per cent of the vote, respectively.

Following the counting of overseas votes, 92.83 per cent of all registered electors voted in GE2025, ELD added. 

The lower voter turnout at GE2025 may have been driven by the timing of the polls and the perceived quality of opposition party candidates in some constituencies, said political observers.