SINGAPORE: The People’s Action Party (PAP) on Saturday (May 3) won the newly formed West Coast-Jurong West Group Representation Constituency (GRC) with 60.01 per cent of the votes.
The contest between the PAP’s five-person team helmed by National Development Minister Desmond Lee and the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) team led by chairman Tan Cheng Bock was closely watched.
The PSP in 2020 came within a few percentage points of victory in what was the tightest race of the polls that year, albeit in the now-defunct West Coast GRC.
In 2020, the PAP retained West Coast GRC with 51.69 per cent of the vote, while PSP secured two Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) seats as the best-performing losing team.
With the PSP securing 39.99 per cent of votes this year, it is likely that the party will now lose the two NCMP seats, which had been occupied by party chief Leong Mun Wai and vice-chairman Hazel Poa.
Electoral boundaries were redrawn ahead of GE2025 to include parts of the now-defunct Jurong GRC – which has been a traditional stronghold for PAP – while parts of the old West Coast GRC were also hived out into neighbouring SMCs.
In 2020, PAP’s Jurong GRC team led by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, before he became Singapore’s president, won with about 74.6 per cent of the votes.
The PSP team contesting West Coast-Jurong West GRC this year comprised largely the same ones that nearly unseated the PAP from West Coast GRC in 2020.
They were led by the party’s A-team, comprising party founder and former PAP MP Mr Tan, Mr Leong, Ms Poa, as well as new faces Sani Ismail and Sumarleki Amjah.
They faced off against a PAP team led by Mr Lee and also comprising former Jurong MPs Shawn Huang and Ang Wei Neng, as well as electoral debutants Cassandra Lee and Hamid Razak.
"We will do everything we can to ensure we are well supported the next five years and beyond," said Mr Lee in his thank you speech after the official results were announced.
"I would like to thank Dr Tan Cheng Bock and our colleagues from the PSP for giving a robust competition here in West Coast-Jurong West with a good engagement of ideas. Let's continue in the maturing of our democracy and the strengthening of Singapore for many years to come."
The redrawn boundaries were a point of contention by the opposition party.
Mr Leong had told the media that taking on the new areas added to the revised West Coast-Jurong West GRC was an "uphill battle", especially with a "very short" runway leading up to the General Election.
But during the hustings, national policies, particularly public housing, also became a central focus for the PSP and led to several exchanges between the contenders.
Mr Leong and Ms Poa of PSP fired the first salvo on Apr 23, right after being formally announced as candidates for West Coast-Jurong West GRC, challenging Mr Lee’s team to a public debate on national policy.
On the same afternoon, Mr Lee’s team unveiled PAP’s manifesto for the constituency, and challenged the PSP to do the same.
On Apr 30, at the sidelines of a walkabout in Jurong West, Mr Leong said that Mr Lee had yet to respond to several policy questions raised by the opposition party.
Among other housing issues raised, Mr Leong said that Mr Lee did not address concerns about the rising cost of public flats, lease decay and the lack of lift upgrading for certain flats in Singapore.
Mr Lee later issued a statement saying that the opposition party leader was making assertions with “little regard for facts”, and urged the public to consider the facts from both sides, adding that he had addressed national housing issues on “multiple occasions” throughout the campaigning period.
The issues were also debated in parliament before the elections, the minister added.
Speaking to the media on the same day after Mr Lee’s remarks, Mr Leong said that the minister did not provide any new information during those times when he claimed to have responded and that the issues were also not resolved in parliamentary discussions.
Speaking to CNA, political pundits said the boundary changes factored into the PAP’s margin of victory.
Political analyst and former PAP MP Inderjit Singh said: “I think this can be seen as an expected shift thanks to the votes coming from Jurong, the former stronghold of (Mr) Tharman.”
National University of Singapore associate professor of political science Chong Ja Ian also pointed to the wider, national swing towards the PAP and that the PSP appeared not to have been as active on the ground in the GRC.
Having Mr Leong and Ms Poa as NCMP voices was a “plus” for the party, but not enough of a plus, Assoc Prof Chong added.
“To win in Singapore, you need to service your constituency and have a voice in parliament,” he said.
Dr Tan’s waning personal appeal to voters may have also played a part in the results, said the experts.
Mr Singh said it was “mainly” Dr Tan who helped PSP clinch a good performance in 2020, but his popularity has since declined.
Dr Teo Kay Key, a research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, added: “With his advanced age, it might be something on their (voters’) minds when deciding who to vote for.
“While the party has tried to ensure some renewal plans have been put into motion, including electing a new CEC, Dr Tan’s prominence to outsiders is still unrivalled. Hence, there might be worries about voting for them.”
The results could also be an indication of voters’ sentiments on the two NCMPs’ performance in parliament, said Dr Teo, adding that voters may prefer "other styles of engaging in debate".
All in all, the experts said the swing away from PSP showed that the party must work hard to show voters its identity beyond being Dr Tan’s party.
“This will be especially hard to do if they have no presence inside parliament. They probably will also need to continue doing groundwork in the areas they contested,” said Dr Teo.
Additional reporting by Matthew Mohan
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The contest between the PAP’s five-person team helmed by National Development Minister Desmond Lee and the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) team led by chairman Tan Cheng Bock was closely watched.
The PSP in 2020 came within a few percentage points of victory in what was the tightest race of the polls that year, albeit in the now-defunct West Coast GRC.
In 2020, the PAP retained West Coast GRC with 51.69 per cent of the vote, while PSP secured two Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) seats as the best-performing losing team.
With the PSP securing 39.99 per cent of votes this year, it is likely that the party will now lose the two NCMP seats, which had been occupied by party chief Leong Mun Wai and vice-chairman Hazel Poa.
Electoral boundaries were redrawn ahead of GE2025 to include parts of the now-defunct Jurong GRC – which has been a traditional stronghold for PAP – while parts of the old West Coast GRC were also hived out into neighbouring SMCs.
In 2020, PAP’s Jurong GRC team led by Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, before he became Singapore’s president, won with about 74.6 per cent of the votes.
The PSP team contesting West Coast-Jurong West GRC this year comprised largely the same ones that nearly unseated the PAP from West Coast GRC in 2020.
They were led by the party’s A-team, comprising party founder and former PAP MP Mr Tan, Mr Leong, Ms Poa, as well as new faces Sani Ismail and Sumarleki Amjah.
They faced off against a PAP team led by Mr Lee and also comprising former Jurong MPs Shawn Huang and Ang Wei Neng, as well as electoral debutants Cassandra Lee and Hamid Razak.
"We will do everything we can to ensure we are well supported the next five years and beyond," said Mr Lee in his thank you speech after the official results were announced.
"I would like to thank Dr Tan Cheng Bock and our colleagues from the PSP for giving a robust competition here in West Coast-Jurong West with a good engagement of ideas. Let's continue in the maturing of our democracy and the strengthening of Singapore for many years to come."
HOUSING FOCUS
The redrawn boundaries were a point of contention by the opposition party.
Mr Leong had told the media that taking on the new areas added to the revised West Coast-Jurong West GRC was an "uphill battle", especially with a "very short" runway leading up to the General Election.
But during the hustings, national policies, particularly public housing, also became a central focus for the PSP and led to several exchanges between the contenders.
Mr Leong and Ms Poa of PSP fired the first salvo on Apr 23, right after being formally announced as candidates for West Coast-Jurong West GRC, challenging Mr Lee’s team to a public debate on national policy.
On the same afternoon, Mr Lee’s team unveiled PAP’s manifesto for the constituency, and challenged the PSP to do the same.
On Apr 30, at the sidelines of a walkabout in Jurong West, Mr Leong said that Mr Lee had yet to respond to several policy questions raised by the opposition party.
Among other housing issues raised, Mr Leong said that Mr Lee did not address concerns about the rising cost of public flats, lease decay and the lack of lift upgrading for certain flats in Singapore.
Mr Lee later issued a statement saying that the opposition party leader was making assertions with “little regard for facts”, and urged the public to consider the facts from both sides, adding that he had addressed national housing issues on “multiple occasions” throughout the campaigning period.
The issues were also debated in parliament before the elections, the minister added.
Speaking to the media on the same day after Mr Lee’s remarks, Mr Leong said that the minister did not provide any new information during those times when he claimed to have responded and that the issues were also not resolved in parliamentary discussions.
WHAT THE VOTE SWING MEANS FOR PSP
Speaking to CNA, political pundits said the boundary changes factored into the PAP’s margin of victory.
Political analyst and former PAP MP Inderjit Singh said: “I think this can be seen as an expected shift thanks to the votes coming from Jurong, the former stronghold of (Mr) Tharman.”
National University of Singapore associate professor of political science Chong Ja Ian also pointed to the wider, national swing towards the PAP and that the PSP appeared not to have been as active on the ground in the GRC.
Having Mr Leong and Ms Poa as NCMP voices was a “plus” for the party, but not enough of a plus, Assoc Prof Chong added.
“To win in Singapore, you need to service your constituency and have a voice in parliament,” he said.
Dr Tan’s waning personal appeal to voters may have also played a part in the results, said the experts.
Mr Singh said it was “mainly” Dr Tan who helped PSP clinch a good performance in 2020, but his popularity has since declined.
Dr Teo Kay Key, a research fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies, added: “With his advanced age, it might be something on their (voters’) minds when deciding who to vote for.
“While the party has tried to ensure some renewal plans have been put into motion, including electing a new CEC, Dr Tan’s prominence to outsiders is still unrivalled. Hence, there might be worries about voting for them.”
The results could also be an indication of voters’ sentiments on the two NCMPs’ performance in parliament, said Dr Teo, adding that voters may prefer "other styles of engaging in debate".
All in all, the experts said the swing away from PSP showed that the party must work hard to show voters its identity beyond being Dr Tan’s party.
“This will be especially hard to do if they have no presence inside parliament. They probably will also need to continue doing groundwork in the areas they contested,” said Dr Teo.
Additional reporting by Matthew Mohan
Continue reading...