SINGAPORE - There was surprise, anger and a lot of disappointment.

Such was the despondent mood in the opposition camp on May 3 when the results of the 2025 General Election were released and the PAP romped home with a victory of 65.57 per cent of votes.

That the smaller opposition players did not gain any ground is as much a given as the PAP forming the Government.

But this time, the defeat was more abject, with a total of 27 candidates from the National Solidarity Party (NSP), People’s Alliance for Reform (PAR), People’s Power Party (PPP) and Singapore United Party polling below 12.5 per cent and losing $364,500 collectively in election deposits.

Never has so much in deposits been forfeited in an election.

Some like the PPP and NSP even managed to poll below 1 per cent of votes, granted it was from a four-cornered fight in Tampines GRC. 

Parties, people or pace?

Interpreting the results, analysts have been almost unanimous in their assessment that the vote was a repudiation of the smaller “mosquito parties”, with their haphazardly put together motley crew of candidates, lack of groundwork, and unclear positions.

To say that this has led to soul-searching, though, would be overstating it.

Perhaps emotions are still too raw.

A disgruntled opposition politician from one of the smaller, but older, parties told a colleague of mine that if it were up to him, he would change his party’s logo to a black heart, reflecting how Singaporeans have been hard-hearted despite the sacrifices of him and his ilk.

Another from a newer party ranted that his leaders’ strong faith in the electorate had been misplaced, since voters care more about brand than beliefs.

To them, the people are to blame.

A look back at past election results will show that this has happened before.

Perhaps not the losing of deposits – the last time the opposition camp polled so badly was in 1972 when 22 candidates got below 12.5 per cent of votes – but the swing away from the opposition.

In 2015, opposition parties tried to build on the momentum of the 2011 election, where the WP took Aljunied GRC, the first group representation const...