GE2015: PAP wins Holland-Timah GRC by bigger margin
The People’s Action Party has retained the Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency by a bigger margin in the 2015 general election despite the much talked about comeback of the Singapore Democratic Party’s chief Chee Soon Juan.
The ruling party secured a higher vote share of 66.62 per cent compared with 60.08 per cent in the 2011 general election. In contrast, the opposition party obtained only 33.38 per cent of the vote share, lower than 39.92 per cent in 2011.
The PAP team for the GRC comprised Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan, Sim Ann, Liang Eng Hwa, Christopher de Souza. Chee led the SDP team, which also included Paul Tambyah, Chong Wai Fung, Sidek Mallek.
The result was a major setback for Chee after an absence of 14 years as an electoral candidate and being in the limelight in the past few weeks when he was able to draw large crowds to the SDP rallies.
At a media conference after the result was announced, Chee extended his congratulations to the PAP team and expressed disappointment with the outcome. "Despite everything that has happened, the opposition still labours under an undemocratic system. I do worry the future of Singapore is not going to be where we want to see it go," he said.
The SDP secretary-general said the party will persevere with reaching out to Singaporeans. "We still want to work for the country and for the people."
Despite doubts about his team’s chances to contest in a "wealthy" GRC of 104,491 voters, which was seen as a PAP stronghold, Chee had said that he can appeal to the voters in the region.
In the run-up to the election, Balakrishnan had attacked SDP’s economic policy, saying that it would lead Singapore to Greece-style fiscal ruin, something that the party had denied. Chee also said he would not respond to his PAP rivals’ “personal attacks” on him, and that he would focus on debating policy issues.
