The single-seat wards of MacPherson, Radin Mas and Bukit Batok will face three-cornered fights at the Sept 11 polls, two more than in the 2011 General Election.
The Workers’ Party’s (WP) rookie candidate Bernard Chen, 29, a funeral services company executive, will go up against the PAP’s Ms Tin Pei Ling and the National Solidarity Party’s Mr Cheo Chai Chen in MacPherson, which was carved out of the Marine Parade GRC.
In Radin Mas, PAP incumbent Sam Tan will face off against Mr Kumar Appavoo of the Reform Party and an independent candidate, blogger Han Hui Hui.
Another independent, businessman Samir Salim Neji, 45, is contesting Bukit Batok against the Singapore Democratic Party’s Sadasivam Veriyah and the PAP’s David Ong.
The other 10 single-seat wards and 16 group representation constituencies (GRCs) are seeing straight fights.
At the 2011 polls, there was only one three-cornered fight – in Punggol East between the PAP’s Michael Palmer, the WP’s Ms Lee Li Lian and Mr Desmond Lim Bak Chuan of the Singapore Democratic Alliance.
Mr Palmer won with 54.54 per cent of the vote, with Ms Lee garnering 41.01 per cent and Mr Lim losing his electoral deposit after scoring just 4.45 per cent.
Mr Palmer later resigned after publicly admitting to an extramarital affair. Ms Lee won the subsequent by-election in 2013.
Source: www.straitstimes.com
