Human rights NGO to analyse GE2020’s effect on Singaporean youth

Local human rights NGO, MARUAH, is set to analyse the effect of the 2020 General Election on Singapore’s youth in a webinar scheduled for 5 September.

The 2020 General Election was a watershed and some observers attributed the outcome to trends among younger voters. The People’s Action Party (PAP), which had specifically asked for a stronger mandate ahead of the election, saw hefty swings against it instead.

The party’s leadership renewal plans were threatened when its fourth-generation (4G) ministers performed relatively poorly – one prominent 4G minister was even ousted from Parliament and the leader of the 4G, Heng Swee Keat, was barely returned to the House with about 53 per cent of the vote.

The opposition made significant inroads and nearly all the opposition candidates received a higher vote share compared to the previous election. The Workers’ Party (WP) was the best opposition performer and captured an unprecedented 10 seats in Parliament, wresting a second multi-member ward from the ruling party.

WP chairman Sylvia Lim later said that the party did not expect to win the new Sengkang GRC and said that the WP candidates fielded in the ward resonated with the younger voters there.

MARUAH is now planning to discuss the outcome of the 2020 general election, especially as it pertains to the youth, in a webinar scheduled for Saturday, 5 September 2020, from 10.00am to 12.00pm on Zoom. The panel of speakers will include personalities from the political, civil and private sectors.

The human rights NGO said, “The aim of the webinar is to stimulate thinking; to hear the thoughts and approaches of our panel of speakers regarding Singapore’s future; their views on the hopes of our youth and how these hopes can be achieved and why engagement with Singapore’s future voters is important.”

MARUAH is perhaps the most prominent human rights NGO in Singapore. The organisation seeks to advocate for and raise awareness on human rights and related issues at the national, regional and international levels, in Singapore, ASEAN and beyond. Register your interest to attend MARUAH’s GE2020 webinar here by 31 Aug.