Ahead of a meeting scheduled for Friday (Jul 30) in which Opposition hopefuls will seek to avoid three-corner fights, the Opposition parties have already declared they will contest 25 of the 29 constituencies laid out for the coming General Election.
Only four – Holland-Bukit Timah, Jurong and Sembawang GRCs as well as Bukit Panjang SMC – have not been laid claim to. Of the four, three were contested in the 2011 GE by the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), while one saw the National Solidarity Party (NSP) take on the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP).
Dr Chee Soon Juan’s SDP last contested in Holland Bukit-Timah, Sembawang and Bukit Panjang in 2011. But so far, since the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee report was released on Friday (Jul 24), the SDP has only said that they are “considering contesting in the same areas as it did in the last election”.
In 2011, an SDP team which included future presidential candidate Tan Jee Say and civil activist Vincent Wijeysingha ran against Dr Vivian Balakrishnan’s PAP team in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC. The Opposition team garnered 39.92 per cent of the vote.
In Sembawang GRC, an SDP team led by academic James Gomez secured 36.1 per cent of the vote against Minister for National Development Khaw Boon Wan and his PAP team.
Film-maker Alec Tok was the SDP representative against the PAP’s Teo Ho Pin at Bukit Panjang SMC four years ago. He took a third (33.73 per cent) of the vote.
Similarly, the NSP have not yet laid claim to contesting Jurong’s five-member GRC, where it won 33.04 per cent of the vote in 2011 against a PAP team anchored by Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
On Tuesday, NSP Acting Secretary-General Hazel Poa told Channel NewsAsia that the party can only confirm that it is looking at areas it contested in 2011, but added that a clearer picture would emerge after a meeting this Friday the party has called between Opposition parties.
The Workers’ Party, the party which has the largest share of seats in Parliament after the ruling PAP, on Sunday declared its intention to field candidates in 10 constituencies – 5 GRCs, 5 SMCs – in the coming GE. This will see the WP contest a total of 28 out of the 89 available seats.
“I think we still want to try and avoid any three-corner fights if possible,” said WP chairman Sylvia Lim, confirming that her party will attend the Friday meeting.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
