PSP vows to regroup after poor showing, but can it reinvent itself?

From one election to the next, the PSP has gone from being a political upstart with two Non-Constituency MP seats in Parliament to an opposition party with an unclear future.

- Audrey Tan

The party fielded 13 candidates in six constituencies and lost all of them - including West Coast-Jurong West GRC, where it was said to have had the best chances of winning.

The PSP also contested Chua Chu Kang GRC and the Pioneer, Bukit Gombak, Kebun Baru and Marymount SMCs.

The outcome, with the PSP obtaining between 24.17 and 39.99 per cent of the vote share across the six constituencies, means that it will lose both its NCMP seats.

Reserved for the election's best losers, the role seems likely to go to the WP's candidates from Jalan Kayu SMC and Tampines GRC, who lost narrowly to the PAP.

PSP will lose its parliamentary presence.

And what of its future, when it does not seem to have been able to attract younger candidates or individuals who seem to stand out more, such as those fielded by the WP?

In GE2020, the PSP was a newly formed political party that made a mark because of its founder - former PAP stalwart Tan Cheng Bock.

It also made headlines in the lead-up to that election when it announced that Mr Lee Hsien Yang, the estranged brother of Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, had joined the party.

That year, the PSP built its campaign on the need for a greater opposition presence in Parliament as a check on the PAP.

It was a message that seemed to resonate with the electorate and allowed the PSP, with a team including its three leaders - Dr Tan, party chief Leong Mun Wai and party first vice-chair Hazel Poa - to capture 48.32 per cent of the vote share in the then West Coast GRC.

But ahead of GE2025, the boundaries for the constituency were redrawn, with about 41,000 voters from Jurong GRC - mainly from Jurong Spring and Taman Jurong, both considered PAP strongholds - added to the renamed West Coast-Jurong West GRC.

The changes in electoral boundaries could be a reason for the outcome in GE2025, but it is unlikely to be the only one.