SDP, NSP merger on the cards?
A possible merger could be on the cards for two political parties: the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Solidarity Party (NSP).
SDP member Tan Jee Say, 57, -- who contested in the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC in the recent General Election -- told Yahoo! Singapore that he had met NSP's secretary-general Goh Meng Seng for breakfast on Monday morning and had floated the idea of merger.
He said that the cooperation within the two parties would allow resources to be mobilised in an efficient manner.
Tan added that the option of "merger" had also been discussed internally within the SDP, together with the party's secretary-general Chee Soon Juan and that the meeting was "not a secret".
In a statement released by the SDP on Tuesday evening, it pointed out that contrary to reports that Tan had approached the NSP, the merger idea was brought up through a casual chat after Tan had "bumped" into Goh .
However, the SDP said that it is for closer cooperation among opposition parties, and added, "This is what the SDP has been advocating all along. We are happy to work with all opposition parties to achieve our objective of strengthening the opposition in Singapore."
Meanwhile, Goh also reiterated the point that the idea was just floated during a casual meeting and nothing "concrete" has been reached. He added that he will also discuss the proposal with the party's central executive committee (CEC).
Echoing this point, Tan said that both parties are discussing internally with regard to this prospect but nothing has been finalised.
"At this moment, there is nothing concrete, so I don't want to excite the public further," he said.
In the recent general election, the SDP garnered a 36.8 per cent of the valid votes, a marked improvement from the 23.2 per cent it received in the 2006 polls. The party contested in the Bukit Panjang and Yuhua single-member constituencies (SMCs) and the Holland-Bukit Panjang and Sembawang GRCs.
For the NSP, they secured 39.3 per cent of the votes after contesting in four SMCs and 4 GRCs.
