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Elections Department issues 4 political donation certificates

Four political donation certificates have been issued by the Elections Department for the upcoming by-election in Hougang constituency on 26 May.

People's Action Party's (PAP) Desmond Choo Pey Ching, Workers' Party's (WP) Png Eng Huat and Poh Lee Guan and former WP member Zeng Guoyuan have been issued the certificates, according to the Elections Department.

Would-be candidates have to, among other requirements, each submit the political donation certificate issued by the Registrar of Political Donations to the Returning officer on Nomination Day this Wednesday to qualify for the by-election.

Desmond Choo, 34, has been chosen by PAP to stand as its candidate in the by-election. Choo contested in the constituency during last year's General Election and lost to WP's Yaw Shin Leong after garnering 35.2 per cent of the votes.

Png Eng Huat, 50, has been picked by the WP for the by-election. Png contested in the East Coast group representation constituency (GRC) and his team obtained 45.17 per cent of votes.

Poh Lee Guan, 51, also received the political donations certificate. It is not clear if he is standing as an independent candidate. The senior lecturer is a veteran WP member who contested in Nee Soon GRC last year and lost when his team got 41.6 per cent of votes.

On Poh's possible participation in the by-election, WP has a statement on Facebook saying the party has only nominated Png as their candidate for the Hougang single-member constituency (SMC).

"Dr Poh Lee Guan has not informed us of any intention to contest. Dr Poh is still a member of the Party," WP said in a Facebook update

The certificate has also been issued to independent candidate Zeng Guoyuan @ Chan Hock Seng. The 59-year-old investor confirms with Yahoo! Singapore that he will be contesting in the by-election.

Zeng said that he has been speaking to Hougang residents and he "more or less has plans for his campaign".

During last year’s general election, Zeng collected nomination forms and may have intended to run as an independent candidate in Mountbatten SMC. On nomination day, Zeng tore up a white envelope at Tao Nan School, nomination centre for that constituency, and stormed off without submitting nomination papers.

The former WP member participated in the 1991 election and stood against PAP’s Wong Kai Yuen and independent candidate Mohamad Sani Jan. Zeng lost to Wong, who garnered 72.6 per cent of votes.