Expected to do better but happy with results: Independent candidate Darryl Lo on GE2025 performance

Darryl Lo is "not an MP for Radin Mas SMC".

It wasn’t for lack of trying.

Lo ran as an independent candidate for Radin Mas SMC in the 2025 General Election, making waves for his youth and sincerity.

From walking the ground to maintaining an active presence on social media, he campaigned tirelessly from the moment he decided to run.

Heading into the election, he also had a goal — to reduce the incumbent People's Action Party's (PAP) vote share in Radin Mas.

And he succeeded.

Lo garnered 23.47 per cent of the vote in a three-way race, facing off against PAP’s Melvin Yong (69.17 per cent) and the People’s Alliance for Reform’s Kumar S/O Appavoo (7.36 per cent).

This was no small feat — Radin Mas SMC was PAP’s strongest-performing SMC in 2020, when Yong secured 74.01 per cent of the vote share.

Riding the high after the campaign, Lo told Mothership he felt he did “all right,” and was "pretty happy with the results" considering he achieved his main objective of lowering PAP’s vote share.

Looking back

Still, the ambitious 28-year-old admitted he had “expected to do a lot better.”

When asked about things he would have done differently with hindsight, Lo candidly shared that he was unfamiliar with some of the electoral guidelines.

For instance, he might have held a rally had he known earlier that independent candidates are not allowed to conduct joint rallies.

He and Mountbatten SMC independent candidate Jeremy Tan had planned to co-host one on the final day of the campaign but Tan eventually held it alone.

He had also printed out flyers with text encouraging residents to vote for him before Nomination Day.

"Those are considered pre-election campaigning, which is illegal, right? You can't do that. Because we printed a few 1000 copies, we had to scrape everything and then reprint the new ones," Lo said.

Turning the tide

Apart from all the regulations, Lo also had to focus on making himself known to the residents of Radin Mas, having seemingly emerged from nowhere to challenge the PAP stronghold.

Yet, he still managed to convince 5,362 of 25,567 electors to vote for him.

On how he earned their support, Lo speculated it could be due to voters becoming more “mature” and more attuned to policies that resonated with their needs.

Some of what Lo advocated for include harsher penalties for drunk drivers, and helping more low-income families qualify for the Ministry of Education's financial assistance scheme in schools.

Perhaps people appreciated that he was "putting in some research" and doing "well-measured approaches" to policies, as compared to just "shouting and screaming", Lo suggested.

Fuelled by supporters

Among Lo’s most loyal supporters was his mother, who even stood as one of his subscribers on Nomination Day.

Both his parents, though initially surprised by their introverted son’s decision to run, stood by him wholeheartedly. While not policy wonks by any means, they kept up with Lo’s campaign online and frequently sent him articles about himself.

"When they sent those to me, I felt very grateful for the support," Lo said.

Lo also had help from friends — one even stepped up as his campaign manager — and received offers of assistance from strangers online.

These supporters volunteered in various ways, including distributing flyers and translating campaign messages.

"So I have to say that I'm very thankful for all of their support. I cannot get that amount of votes, if not for them. I think we have done so much in the past nine days. It is crazy. Without their support, I wouldn't have achieved that much."

What's next?

With the campaign over, Lo is still reflecting on the results and considering his next steps.

Having quit his job at a tech company to focus on the election, he’s now looking to return to full-time work.

He also shared that some political parties have approached him with offers to join, though he emphasised that he is still looking at what his next steps will be.

One thing is clear — Lo hopes to remain engaged with residents and continue being a voice for their concerns, now that he has a platform to do so.

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A post shared by Darryl Lo 劳家强 (@darryl.sg)

In fact, shortly after the election, he emailed Melvin Yong a congratulatory message that also highlighted some of the issues raised by residents during his campaign. Yong has since replied and promised to look into them.

"So I'm hopeful that with this public email, he will take action on it sooner, if not faster, so that everyone in Radin Mas will benefit from it," he added.

For now, he’s taking a well-deserved break — and catching up on missed episodes of the Mediacorp drama Emerald Hill.

Top photos by Mothership and darryl.sg/Instagram