Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

After  winning nearly 70 percent of the vote, Singapore's ruling People's Action Party (PAP) secured an overwhelming victory on Saturday in the first general election after the country's founding father Lee Kuan Yew passed away this March. Surprisingly, the PAP got 10 percent more than the last election in 2011.

The results are beyond expectations of many analysts. Generally speaking, economic downturn is an obstacle for the ruling party. Recent years have witnessed Singapore's economic growth shrinking. Before the general election, Moody's cut Singapore's growth forecast from 3 percent to 1.7 percent. In stark contrast, only five years ago, Singapore, with the GDP growth rate reaching 14.5 percent at its peak, used to be one of the fastest growing economies in the world.

It is remarkable and almost inexplicable that the PAP could manage a conquering triumph in the election despite the gloomy economy. There are many reasons, but the essential one is that the PAP drew lessons from the slipping performance in the 2011 election.

In the past four years, the Singaporean government has promoted quite a few policies showcasing the ruling party's care for the people, especially the grassroots electorate. Within the party, the meritocratic system practices what Lee advocated, the best people must take over the best jobs, and has promoted the fourth generation of successors such as Chan Chun Sing to the front. The new generation is earning the support of the people, who are increasingly confident in the PAP government.

These actions are helping the PAP to regain people's trust. More importantly, Singaporeans, especially the middle class, have a greater understanding of governance.

The art of governance is a challenge for every government, be it small or big, at any time. Effective governance can address problems, and gather wide support from the public.

Most multi-party countries haunted by economic recession have met troubles in governance. The major cause is neither they cannot figure out what is wrong with their economies, nor they cannot find the cure; they are restricted by bipartisan or multi-partisan disputes, which have restricted effective approaches to solving problems.

When economy sinks in recession, checks and balances in a multi-party system can be more counterproductive. The opposition can find more leeway to sabotage the ruling party; and, the ruling party will find it harder to maintain a majority, thus has to cooperate with some smaller parties.

This model has become a universal way of governance in many European and South American countries. The results are obvious: there will be less of a consensus within the government, whose effectiveness will be weakened and popularity jeopardized.

The Singaporeans have a clear vision of the repercussions. In an interview, Eugene Tan, an associate professor of law at Singapore Management University, said that checks and balances in parliament are not necessarily good for a state, and what really matters for the PAP is that Singapore can develop well under its governance.

Such point of view prevails, argued by many analysts, because Singapore's middle class prioritizes stability over anything else. In fact, the desire for social stability is shared by most countries. The only difference is that Singapore's middle class have realized that stability is derived from the ruling party's strong leadership, which has proven its effectiveness in the past decades.

Thus, facing an economic downturn, they need a strong government with outstanding governing capacity to lead the country back on track. More support for such a government will help the country overcome hardships. If the public does not support the government, they will eventually fall victim to a government weakened by partisanship and factionalism.

When the middle class of a country feel this way about their society, the government will develop more common ground in putting forward state policies. Other societies can learn from Singapore's lesson.

The author is a senior editor with People's Daily. He is now stationed in Brazil. dinggang@globaltimes.com.cn. Follow him on Twitter @dinggangchina