The PAP, which has governed Singapore since 1959, six years before independence, secured 82 of 84 seats in Singapore's largely rubber-stamp parliament.

The big win was despite Singapore being mired in its deepest recession in 30 years. The economy has contracted by as much as 10 per cent this year. A PAP win had been guaranteed since nominations were called for Saturday's poll, when the opposition alliance was unable to field candidates for two-thirds of the seats.

With the election won before actual polling, attention had been focused on the size of the PAP majority; Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong specified 60 per cent of the popular vote as a satisfactory mandate. In the end, the PAP increased its share from the 65 per cent received during the last election in 1997 to 75.3 per cent, its best showing since 1980 and third highest margin yet.

"The victory was decisive, but we accept it with humility," Mr Goh told a rally of party faithful yesterday. The opposition maintained the two seats it previously held, albeit with a reduced majority.

Despite being guaranteed victory, the PAP kept a restrictive rein on the opposition during the poll, unleashing threats of defamation against a vocal opposition candidate and the full power of the government-controlled media.

Post-election attention now focuses on Prime Minister Goh, who took over from Singapore's founding leader Lee Kuan Yew in 1990.

Now a so-called Senior Minister, Mr Lee is widely considered to remain the real power behind Goh and the PAP in Singapore, one of Southeast Asia's least democratic nations.

Having secured a massive mandate, Mr Goh must take steps to arrest Singapore's worsening slump, which has seen unemployment creep to a record 5 per cent.

Mr Goh has also pledged to pursue young opposition firebrand Chee Soon Juan in Singapore's courts, after Dr Chee raised questions about the status of an $18billion aid pledge to Indonesia during the recent financial crisis. Mr Chee failed to win a seat.

Mr Goh will also be under scrutiny for signs as to when he will relinquish the nominal top job, most likely to his deputy, Lee Kuan Yew's elder son Brigadier-General Lee Hsien Loong. Mr Goh has said he will step down before the next poll, which is not expected until 2006-07.

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