And the final result of the Bukit Batok by-election is out:

People’s Action Party Murali Pillai: 14,428 votes (61.21%)

Singapore Democratic Party Chee Soon Juan: 9,142 votes (38.79%)

Total eligible voters: 25,727

Total votes cast: 23,570

Spoilt votes: 622

Absent: 1,535

This puts the spoilt-cum-absent votes percentage at 8.38 per cent, well within the regular national 8 to 9 per cent average of spoilt-absent votes.

How the numbers played out 240 days after GE2015

With former PAP MP David Ong scoring 72.99 per cent in the General Election 2015, SDP’s Chee Soon Juan theoretically needed at least a 23.7 per cent vote swing in his favour to win in this Bukit Batok by-election (assuming the same number of voters in the GE and BE).

This was the result in Bukit Batok during the 2015 General Election:

PAP David Ong Kim Huat: 18,204 votes (72.99%)

SDP Sadasivam Veriyah: 6,585 votes (26.40%)

Independent Samir Salim Neji: 150 votes (0.60%)

Spoilt & absent votes: 2,138

Total voters: 27,077

In other words, this theoretically translates to about 5,885 voters in Bukit Batok switching their vote from PAP to SDP just 240 days since the last time electors voted on Spetmber 11, 2015.

Bukit Batok by-election swing voters

However, in reality, this current Bukit Batok by-election saw slightly fewer voters: Some 25,727 eligible voters were expected to cast their ballots, but only 24,192 did.

Breaking the numbers down a bit more, this means a total of 2,557 voters switched allegiance this Bukit Batok SMC by-election as the Singapore Democratic Party experienced a 13 per cent swing in their favour.

In other words, voters can swing as much as their former MP given some time.

Related articles:

PAP won its first by-election in 24 years. Guess who was the loser of that by-election.

There is now a petition for Chee Soon Juan to continue serving Bukit Batok residents

PAP Murali won 14,428 votes (61.2%), SDP Chee won 9,142 votes (38.8%)

Top image from Chee Soon Juan's Facebook page.

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