GE2025: PAP retains Holland-Bukit Timah with 79.29% of votes against new opponent RDU
GE2025: PAP retains Holland-Bukit Timah with 79.29% of votes against new opponent RDU
SINGAPORE - The PAP team in Holland-Bukit Timah defended their seats with 79.29 per cent of the votes against new challenger Red Dot United (RDU).
This is up from 66.36 per cent in the 2020 election, when the same team led by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, 64, contended with a slate from the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).
It is also historically the best performance for the four-member group representation constituency, apart from a walkover in 2006 when the GRC was first created. The PAP won 60.08 per cent and 66.60 per cent of all valid votes in 2011 and 2015 respectively.
Dr Balakrishnan's team includes Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and National Development Sim Ann, 50, lawyer Christopher de Souza, 49, and businessman Edward Chia, 41.
Their RDU opponents were financial consultant Fazli Talip, 43, piano teacher Emily Woo, 59, assistant engineer Sharad Kumar, 25, and operations manager Nizar Subair, 57.
Apart from Mr Fazli, who contested the 2011 election in East Coast GRC as a WP candidate, the other three are political newcomers.
The incumbent team's pitch was their track record and five-year plan for Holland-Bukit Timah and neighbouring Bukit Panjang , including new active ageing centres, and upgrading the Bukit Panjang Neighbourhood 5 Park.
The RDU candidates tackled issues of inequality, and promoted their party's key proposals including scaling back the GST from 9 per cent to 7 per cent, and a 'Citizens Dividend' - an 'unconditional cash transfer' given to all Singaporeans.
Compared to the hotly contested races in the East, both sides conducted a relatively quieter campaign to win the hearts of the GRC's 123,225 voters over nine days of hustings.
The PAP team went door-to-door and conducted walkabouts at the Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre and Senja Hawker Centre, while RDU mainly engaged residents at locations with high footfall such as LRT stations, coffeeshops and hawker centres.
Things went up a notch on April 29, when the RDU team launched salvos at their PAP opponents in their rally.
Mr Fazli criticised all four incumbent MPs for not voting against the GST hike, saying in Malay: 'The PAP keeps talking about the Pioneer generation, the Merdeka generation. But in reality, there is only one generation – the wealth generation, for themselves and their billionaire friends.'
Mr Sharad also took issue with Dr Balakrishnan for his Facebook account allegedly 'liking' a post offering to relocate Singaporeans to Gaza.
Dr Balakrishnan earlier said that he did not 'like' the post, and a report had been filed with Meta over the unauthorised activity.
The incumbent team maintained a relatively low profile throughout the hustings and did not hold rallies.
Only Mr Chia gave his maiden rally speech - he joined politics in 2020 when Covid-19 prohibited such gatherings - at a rally for Bukit Panjang SMC candidate Mr Liang Eng Hwa on April 30.
Dr Balakrishnan also attended the rally in a show of support for Mr Liang, whose constituency was touted as a hot seat in a contest against SDP chairman Paul Tambyah.
In his speech, Mr Chia said it would be difficult to execute planned upgrades with two separate town councils, as Holland-Bukit Timah and Bukit Panjang are currently managed together under one town council.
The line-up for Holland-Bukit Timah was only one of two PAP GRC slates across the island that remained unchanged, the other being the Prime Minister's team in Marsiling-Yew Tee.
When asked why there were no changes, Dr Balakrishnan - who has represented the constituency for about two decades - said on April 15 that his team still has the right blend of experience.
Before hustings officially started, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC generated some buzz when the SDP, which has contested in the area for the past three elections, decided not to enter the fray in a bid to consolidate resources.
RDU quickly announced its campaign there, with secretary-general Ravi Philemon noting it was an 'important piece of the puzzle' that connects Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC to Nee Soon GRC - two other constituencies they contested.
Mr Ravi had acknowledged there was a real challenge in their campaign as he called Dr Balakrishnan 'entrenched' in the GRC, and that his party was unfamiliar with the area.
Regardless, Mr Ravi promised his team would continue engaging residents regardless of the election results.
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