GE2015: 10 political parties plan to contest at 2015 elections
Ahead of the coming elections, here’s an overview of Singapore’s 12 political parties, 10 of which have announced plans to vie for seats in Parliament. However, until all applications for candidacy have been sent in for Nomination Day, nothing is set in stone. Read this list for a quick reference to the parties involved.
People's Action Party
Website: https://www.pap.org.sg
Led by incumbent Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong, the People’s Action Party (PAP) was founded in 1954 and has dominated the political scene here since the nation’s year of independence in 1965.
With almost all constituencies likely to be contested this year, the coming elections will likely see the ruling political party go against candidates from nine opposition parties. While PAP still makes the majority with 80 out of 87 seats in parliament, it had its poorest showing since Singapore’s independence with 60.1 per cent of votes at the 2011 elections. At the last electoral race, all but Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency (GRC) were contested; the GRC was represented by Singapore’s founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, who passed away in March this year.
Workers’ Party
Website: http://www.wp.sg
Founded in 1957, Workers’ Party (WP) is currently led by chief Low Thia Khiang and chairman Sylvia Lim. WP represents the largest opposition team in parliament to date. Seven of its leaders including Chen Show Mao, Pritam Singh, Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap, Lee Li Lian serve as members of parliament. As of press time, the party said it will defend its seats in Aljunied GRC, Hougang SMC, Punggol East SMC come election day, while contesting for the Marine Parade, Jalan Besar, Nee Soon, East Coast GRCs, as well as the Fengshan, Sengkang West and MacPherson SMCs.
Of these, a three-cornered fight for Marine Parade GRC is no longer likely. On August 10, the National Solidarity Party (NSP) backed down on its plans to contest for Marine Parade and Macpherson. However, NSP subsequently backtracked and said it would contest Macpherson SMC. Both WP and NSP had originally expressed interest in contesting against incumbent party PAP in both constituencies. WP held to its decision to contest for these seats as the new constitutional boundaries now include the Joo Chiat SMC in Marine Parade; the SMC was one in which the party had marginally lost to the PAP at the 2011 elections. The MacPherson SMC is also a new constituency that was formerly part of Marine Parade in 2011.
Singapore People's Party
Website: http://www.spp.org.sg
Singapore People’s Party (SPP) was formed in 1994 by a pro-Chiam See Tong faction in Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), which broke off after unresolved conflicts between Chiam and SDP leaders. Chiam left SDP to join SPP in 1997 and had been successfully elected to represent the Potong Pasir constituency as MP from 1984 to 2011, thus becoming Singapore's longest-serving opposition leader in parliament to date.
His wife Lina Loh (also known as Lina Chiam) currently heads the party. Loh took Chiam’s place as SPP candidate for Potong Pasir at the 2011 elections. She lost but was able to serve as a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) from 2011 to 2015. As of press time, SPP will likely contest for the Potong Pasir, Hong Kah North and Mountbatten SMCs. SPP will contest the Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC by sending a joint team with Democratic Political Party (DPP).
Singapore Democratic Party
Website: http://yoursdp.org
SDP was first founded in 1980 and is now headed by secretary-general Chee Soon Juan, who replaced opposition leader and co-founder Chiam See Tong. The latter left the party in 1993. Although Chee was unable to compete in the last elections due to his bankruptcy, his eligibility for this year’s elections may lead to an intense fight for the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, which the party had contested in without Chee in 2011. SDP had garnered 39.92 per cent of votes at the 2011 elections. The party backed out of Sembawang GRC due to the potential three-way fight with NSP and PAP, said the party in a media statement.
At the upcoming polls, SDP will stand for the same constituencies it had fielded at the last electoral race. This would include the Sembawang, Holland-Bukit Timah, Marsiling-Yew Tee GRCs as well as the Bukit Panjang, Bukit Batok and Yuhua SMCs.
Singapore Democratic Alliance
Website: https://www.facebook.com/singaporedemocraticalliance
Founded by Chiam See Tong and SPP in 2001, the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) coalition united opposition parties SPP, National Solidarity Party (NSP), Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS, also known as the Singapore Malay National Organisation), Singapore National Front (SNF) and Singapore Justice Party (SJP) under one banner. However, NSP left the alliance in 2007 to build and grow its team independently while SPP withdrew in 2011 after disagreements caused by Reform Party’s conditions for joining the alliance. PKMS has remained in the coalition with SJP.
Presently, Desmond Lim of SJP leads SDA as its secretary-general. Lim had previously served as Chiam’s right hand man in Potong Pasir GRC during the latter’s years as MP. SDA is expected to contest the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC seats at the coming elections. Potential candidates include three newest members IT executives Ernest Pak, Aloysius Chan, business consultant Lina Ang, who have been participating in recent SDA walkabouts, reported The Straits Times.
Democratic Progressive Party
Website: http://www.dpp.sg
Formerly known as the Singapore United Front, the party was renamed as Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in 1990 and had last contested as DPP at the 2001 elections. Party leaders had contested under the SDA banner in 2006 but did not participate in the 2011 elections.
In 2013, ex-members of SPP including Benjamin Pwee, Mohamad Hamim Aliyas and Wilfred Leung joined DPP. Pwee has since taken over party leadership from DPP founder Seow Khee Leng, who now serves as its advisor.DPP will team up with Lina Chiam of SPP to contest the Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.
National Solidarity Party
Website: http://nsp.sg
The National Solidarity Party (NSP) was started in 1987 by Kum Teng Hock, formerly of PAP and SDP’s ex-chairman Soon Kia Seng. The party is now led by chairman Sebastian Teo. Until recently, its secretary-general was Hazel Poa, who resigned after the party decided to contest the MacPherson SMC despite earlier announcing it wouldn't to avoid a three-cornered fight with the Workers' Party. Other constituencies that the party plans on fielding for include Tampines, Sembawang GRCs and Pioneer SMC.
Its newest member Kevryn Lim, 26, has been compared to former NSP activist Nicole Seah due to her youth. Seah was 24 when she fielded for the Marine Parade GRC, as part of the NSP team in 2011.
Reform Party
website: http://thereformparty.net
Founded in 2008, Reform Party (RP) is now led by chairman Andy Zhu and secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the son of its late founder J. B. Jeyaretnam. It last contested for the Ang Mio Kio, against Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s PAP team in 2011 and will do the same for the coming elections.
A notable new member-applicant of the party is blogger Roy Ngerng, who was successfully sued for defamation by Lee, told Yahoo Singapore that socio-economical issues drove him to join RP, whose policies aligned with his political beliefs. After recent talks held on August 6 with other opposition parties, RP has also given up claims on all other constituencies except Ang Mo Kio, West Coast GRCs and the Radin Mas ward.
Singaporeans First
Website: http://singfirst.org
The second newest political party on this list, Singaporeans First (SingFirst) was formed in 2014 and is led by former presidential candidate Tan Jee Say, who serves as the party's secretary-general. Tan had also run at the last elections as a SDP candidate for the Holland-Bukit Timah GRC.
As of Aug 10, SingFirst has backed out of its plans to contest Ang Mo Kio GRC, which would have seen the party up against PAP and RP in a three-corner fight.
“SingFirst will hereby withdraw its interest to contest AMK (Ang Mo Kio) GRC and focus its resources on Tanjong Pagar and Jurong GRCs,” said the party on Facebook. That was the main point of contention between SingFirst and RP, during the Aug 6 talks between the opposition parties. It also has dropped its earlier claims for Tampines and West Coast GRCs, which were last contested by NSP and RP respectively.
People’s Power Party
Website: https://www.facebook.com/peoplespowerpartysg
Founded in May 2015, the People’s Power Party (PPP) is the newest political group on this list. PPP members consist mainly of former Worker’s Party and National Solidarity Party leaders.
Former National Solidarity Party secretary-general Goh Meng Seng heads PPP and has declared the party’s intention to field for Chua Chu Kang GRC at the elections this year. PPP is also likely to contest for a SMC, details of which will be disclosed at a later date, said the party to Today newspaper.
Socialist Front
The party was founded in 2010 by opposition politicians Ng Teck Siong and Chia Ti Lik, previously from RP and WP respectively. Ng serves as the party chairman while Chia acts as the party's secretary-general.
At the 2011 elections, Socialist Front had plans to field a joint team with SDA assistant secretary general Nazem Suki for Tanjong Pagar GRC. However, the opposition politicians could not file their candidacies in time for Nomination Day.
Socialist Front has said that it will skip the coming elections, reported Today newspaper. When all 11 opposition parties including Socialist Front had met for the August 3 talks, Chia told the media that the party will not be participating in the coming elections.
Socialist Front is not affiliated with the similarly named Barisan Sosialis (also known as the Socialist Front), a now-defunct party founded in 1961 by ex-PAP members with left-wing sympathies. The latter was dissolved and became a part of the Workers' Party in 1988, reported the Straits Times.
Singapore National Front
SNF was formed by former members of PKMS, in the interest of the rights of Malays in Singapore. Its members have not contested in any general election since its formation in 1991.
The party is no longer part of SDA, the opposition coalition that formed in 2001. SNF is now led by Karim Sattar, who serves as the SNF president. The party however, did join the opposition talks held on August 3 but has not expressed any intention of joining the coming elections, as of press time.
