Workers' Party's Lee Li Lian takes Punggol East

The voters of Singapore's largest single member constituency, Punggol East, dealt the ruling People's Action Party a heavy blow at its by-election held on 27 January this year.

The PAP's colorectal surgeon candidate Koh Poh Koon was rejected in favour of the Workers' Party's Lee Li Lian, a sales trainer. She sailed into Parliament with a clear 10 per cent vote margin over Koh, who garnered just over 43 per cent of the valid vote.

In what many viewed as a historically-significant poll, all eyes were on the usually-quiet Punggol East. There the concerns of young families were mainly lack of amenities and childcare, and the issue of stalled improvement works at a market had become a point of national interest.

This after former Speaker of Parliament Michael Palmer, their previous elected MP, resigned from the PAP and Parliament after revelations of an affair with a grassroots director.

Analysts called the by-election defeat a "devastating loss" for the PAP, while WP chief Low Thia Khiang concluded that it was a statement by Punggol East residents, who want the government to work harder for their votes.