GE2025: Ang Mo Kio GRC to see three-cornered fight for the first time

New Paper

23-04-2025

Ang Mo Kio GRC, the largest of the 18 GRCs in the upcoming General Election, will be contested by three parties for the first time in its history.
The incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) team will go up against challengers from the Singapore United Party (SUP) and the People's Power Party (PPP).
At around 10.50 am on April 23, the PAP team turned up at Deyi Secondary in Ang Mo Kio, which also served as the nomination centre for Jalan Kayu, Kebun Baru and Yio Chu Kang SMCs.
Led by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 73, the PAP team also comprises incumbent Ang Mo Kio GRC MPs Darryl David, 54, and Nadia Ahmad Samdin, 35, as well as newcomer Jasmin Lau, 42, and Mr Victor Lye, 63, who was part of the losing PAP teams in Aljunied GRC at the last two general elections.
As for the SUP, its Ang Mo Kio slate includes the party's secretary-general Andy Zhu, 42, and Ms Noraini Yunus, 57, who both contested the GRC under the Reform Party banner at the 2020 General Election.
The other members of the team are the party's chairman Ridhuan Chandran, 53, flight attendant Nigel Ng, 39, and Dr Vincent Ng, 52, who was part of the National Solidarity Party team that stood in Tampines GRC in 2020.
The PPP, which is led by veteran opposition politician Goh Meng Seng, had also earlier announced that it would field candidates in Ang Mo Kio.
Its line-up in the constituency comprises party treasurer William Lim, 47, retired civil servant Martinn Ho, 64, safety coordinator Thaddeus Thomas, 43, IT engineer Samuel Lee, 33, and former horticulturalist Heng Zheng Dao, 24.
In 2020, the PAP team won by 71.91 per cent of the valid votes against the RP's 28.09 per cent.
Ang Mo Kio GRC is the largest GRC in this election, with 161, 235 electors. SM Lee, who stepped down as Prime Minister after 20 years in May 2024, has represented the Teck Ghee ward in the GRC for 41 years, having been first elected to Parliament in 1984.
At the Deyi Secondary nomination centre, supporters braved the rain to cheer on their candidates. Some PAP and WP supporters took refuge from the rain under the party banners that they had brought with them.
The parents of PAP candidate Jasmin Lau, a former senior civil servant, waited outside the school in the morning to cheer on their daughter. Mr Lau Kwok Cheong, 75, said he wanted to tell his daughter: "Jasmin, me and your mother are here to support you and wish you all the best." Ms Lau was greeted with a hug by her mother, Ms Lim Swee Eng, 69, when she arrived at the school with the rest of the PAP candidates later.
Potential candidates for three nearby SMCs also filed their papers at Deyi Secondary on April 23.
The earliest candidate to appear at the school was Mr Tony Tan of the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), who is running in Kebun Baru SMC.
Mr Tony Tan of the Progress Singapore Party at Deyi Secondary on April 23. He is running in Kebun Baru SMC. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Mr Tan, 55, turned up at the entrance of the school, which is also the nomination centre for three SMCs including Kebun Baru, shortly before 9am before heading to a nearby coffee shop to meet up with PSP supporters clad in the party's red and white T-shirts and polo shirts. In Kebun Baru, PSP's Mr Tan will challenge PAP's Henry Kwek, 49, the incumbent MP. Mr Tan, co-founder of a private education and gaming firm, is the husband of PSP first vice-chairman Hazel Poa and a former Singapore Armed Forces scholarship holder.
Incumbent Kebun Baru MP Henry Kwek at Deyi Secondary on April 23. ST PHOTO: GAVIN FOO
Mr Kwek made his political debut in 2015 as part of the PAP team contesting Nee Soon GRC. In 2020, he was fielded as the PAP candidate for the then newly carved out Kebun Baru single seat, and won against PSP candidate Kumaran Pillai with 62.92 per cent of the vote.
In Yio Chu Kang SMC, PAP's incumbent MP Yip Hon Weng, 48, will be up against private college lecturer Michael Fang, 48, of the People's Alliance for Reform, an alliance of three parties.
Incumbent Yio Chu Kang MP Yip Hon Weng at Deyi Secondary on April 23. ST PHOTO: VIHANYA RAKSHIKA
The People's Alliance for Reform's Mr Michael Fang arriving at Deyi Secondary on April 23. ST PHOTO: SUE-ANN TAN
At the 2020 General Election, Mr Yip, then a first-time candidate, defeated PSP's Kayla Low with 60.83 per cent of valid votes.
Yio Chu Kang was re-established as a single-member constituency in 2020 after being part of Ang Mo Kio GRC for several elections.
The final constituency, the newly carved Jalan Kayu SMC, will be contested between PAP's Ng Chee Meng and Worker's Party candidate Andre Low.