Singapore saw plenty of drama unfold this year, from pickleball courts to the Supreme Court.
The city state was gripped by election fever in May, when the People’s Action Party maintained its dominance at the polls.
On the trade front, Washington’s imposition of a 10 per cent tariff on Singapore elicited a strong reaction from Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. The jury is still out on whether US President Donald Trump would introduce levies on pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, which could deliver a significant blow to Singapore’s economy next year if implemented.
Here are the most widely read Singapore stories This Week in Asia covered in 2025:
PAP dominance
The ruling PAP continued its dominance, which predates Singapore’s independence, winning 87 out of the 97 seats on offer and securing 65.57 per cent of the vote, thwarting observers’ predictions that the opposition could make inroads amid a growing appetite for diversity in parliament.
The party’s performance also bucked the trend of a new prime minister seeing a drop in vote share during his first election, with Wong securing a more than 4 percentage point vote swing in his party’s favour in his first general election as prime minister.
