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Workers’ Party to contest 28 seats, political parties out in full swing

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The Workers’ Party, led by Low Thia Khiang (above), has announced which constituencies it has decided to enter for the upcoming elections (Yahoo file photo)

The opposition Workers’ Party (WP) has stated their intention to contest 28 seats in the upcoming Singapore general elections, with the seats located in five Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and five Single Member Constituencies (SMCs).

According to reports, party chairman Sylvia Lim confirmed this Sunday. The only time this number of seats was exceeded was in the 1988 elections, with 32 contested seats by the party.

Lim clarified that the GRCs contested would be in Marine Parade, East Coast, Nee Soon and newly-minted Jalan Besar, while contested SMCs would be at MacPherson, Fengshan and Sengkang West. WP will also be defending current wards in Aljunied GRC as well as Hougang and Punggol East SMCs.

The announcement comes on the heels of a weekend of activities by political parties after the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee released its white paper last Friday containing new electoral boundaries. While wards such as Moulmein-Kallang GRC and Joo Chiat SMC were dissolved, new wards such as Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC and Bukit Batok SMC were established.

This had caused disappointment for opposing camps. Moulmein-Kallang Member of Parliament (MP) and Minister for Transport Lui Tuck Yew said on Facebook that he will leave the split-up Moulmein ward ”with a sense of sadness”. For WP’s Yee Jenn Jong, it cost him a chance to recapture the Joo Chiat ward that he narrowly lost in the last elections.

“Residents whom I have met were looking forward to a good and gentlemanly contest again like what we had the last time. Some ‘wise men’ in a small committee decided otherwise, for reasons best known to themselves,“ said Yee in a Facebook post.

This past weekend, political parties ramped up efforts to visit towns. The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) led by secretary-general Chee Soon Juan announced that it will contest Bukit Batok SMC, where former SDP member Ling How Doong won the Bukit Gombak seat in 1991. Chee told the media that the party is considering contesting the wards it did in 2011, namely the Sembawang and Holland-Bukit Timah GRCs, and Bukit Panjang and Yuhua SMCs.

However, double duty can be seen in some wards. The National Solidarity Party (NSP) and SingFirst party were seen visiting Tampines St 81 over the weekend, led by party acting general-secretary Hazel Poa and secretary-general Tan Jee Say respectively. While the Democratic Progressive Party, led by secretary-general Benjamin Pwee, has indicated their interest to contest Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) were seen walking the ground there over the weekend. The SPP had garnered 43.07 percent of the vote when it contested in the GRC in 2011, led by veteran politican Chiam See Tong.

The SingFirst party indicated interest to run in Tanjong Pagar GRC, since it conducted its first walkabout as a newly-instituted party by visiting the area last November. The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has since introduced new face Joan Pereira to the team to replace the vacant seat left by the late Lee Kuan Yew.

In a bid for co-operation, NSP’s Poa has since released an invitation to all opposition parties to join in a meeting on Friday evening at NSP’s Jalan Besar headquarters, to work together in avoiding three-cornered fights "so as to maximise the returns on our efforts”, in a report by Channel NewsAsia. SDP’s Chee has welcomed the invitation, confirming the party’s attendance at the meeting.