GE2025: Which candidates could lose their deposits?
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SINGAPORE: With less than a week to go before the May 3 polls, The Independent Singapore would like to hazard a guess as to who may be $13,500 poorer by the time votes are counted. We're talking about the deposit amount each candidate must pay, as announced by the Elections Department (ELD) on April 15.
Under the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1954, the deposit for each candidate is the fixed monthly allowance payable to an elected MP for the month immediately before the date of dissolution of Parliament, rounded to the nearest $500. If a candidate is unable to win more than 12.5 per cent of the votes in their constituency, their election deposit is forfeited.
For this year, who could that be?
As elections are a numbers game, it stands to reason that the more candidates there are in any given constituency, the bigger their chances of losing their deposit, which is probably partly the reason for all the talk about the smaller opposition parties wanting to avoid multi-cornered fights in the run-up to Nomination Day.
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Tampines GRC candidates from the National Solidarity Party (NSP) and the People's Power Party (PPP) may not have it easy. While the NSP put up a good fight against the PAP in GE 2020 in Tampines, winning 33.59% of the vote, this year is a different story. The WP team, led by vice chair Faisal Manap, together with former IMH director Ong Lue Ping, former diplomat Eileen Chong, Harvard graduate Michael Thng, and business owner Jimmy Tan, is a force to reckon with. While he has kept a lower profile than the WP luminaries, Mr Manap remains popular with the communities he represents.
PPP chief Goh Meng Seng leads his party's team at Tampines. In 2020, he ran against the PAP's Tin Pei Ling at MacPherson SMC, winning 28.26% of the votes, which meant he got his deposit back. This year, however, he hasn't exactly endeared himself to voters.
One or both opposition parties contesting at Ang Mo Kio GRC could also lose their deposit. The PAP team is led by former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, making it a PAP stronghold. In the last election, the Reform Party challengers managed to win 28.09% of the votes. This year, the PPP and the Singapore United Party (SUP) are both fielding candidates at Ang Mo Kio.
The third three-cornered fight is in Sembawang GRC. In 2020, the PAP team at Sembawang lost almost 5 percentage points to NSP compared to the 2015 polls. This year, however, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) entered the fray, led by Dr James Gomez, which may well split the opposition's vote share. If, however, it's divided evenly between the over 32% of votes that NSP received in 2020, then the deposits of the NSP and SDP candidates are safe.
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At Potong Pasir SMC this year, with incumbent Sitoh Yih Pin stepping down, the PAP is fielding Alex Yeo, a former branch chairman at Aljunied. Mr Yeo is up against the Singapore People's Party's (SPP) Williamson Lee, as well as longtime politician Lim Tean from the People's Alliance for Reform, either of whom could end up losing their deposit.
The seat of Potong Pasir is up for grabs, although the PAP won in the last election with 60.67%, and momentum is on its side. However, from 1984 to 2011, opposition leader Chiam See Tong from the SDP had held the seat at Potong Pasir, and residents may want to give it back to an opposition politician this year.
Finally, at Radin Mas SMC, there are also three candidates vying for the seat: the incumbent, PAP's Melvin Yong, PAR's Kumar Appavoo, and an independent candidate, Darryl Lo. Mr Appavoo received nearly 26% of the votes at Radin Mas in 2020, which means Mr Lo will have to fight hard not to lose his deposit. /TISG
Read also: Rotten Tomatoes: Here are the cringiest GE2025 candidates so far
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FILE PHOTO: South Korea's ruling People Power Party floor leader Kweon Seong-dong sits during the impeachment vote of a plenary session for South Korean acting President and Prime Minister Han Duck-soo at the National Assembly in Seoul, South Korea, December 27, 2024. REUTERS/Kim Hong-Ji/File photo SEOUL - South Korea's right is looking to remake itself after a massive defeat in this week's snap presidential election that left it with little power to challenge the ruling Democratic Party. New leader Lee Jae-myung and his party now control parliament and the presidency with Tuesday's polls exposing the smouldering resentment in South Korea over former President Yoon Suk Yeol's botched martial law declaration in December. The attempt at military rule led to Yoon's removal from office and the eventual defeat of the conservative People Power Party, which was unable to overcome divisions within the right and unify around a single candidate. The defeat has left conservative leaders pointing fingers and trading blame as the party searches for a new direction. On Thursday the PPP's floor leader, lawmaker Kweon Seong-dong, stepped down and called for the party to wipe the slate clean and rebuild the conservative movement. "This defeat in the presidential election is not simply a judgment on martial law and the impeachment of the president," he said. "It is a painful reprimand to the divisions of the ruling People Power Party." The party's presidential candidate Kim Moon-soo was unable to convince Lee Jun-seok, the nominee from the minor conservative Reform Party, to drop out, likely splitting at least some of the vote. Former labour minister Kim won 41.15% of the vote and Lee Jun-Seok won 8.34%, to winner Lee Jae-myung's 49.42%. A controversial figure for championing anti-feminist concerns and wielding support among young men, Lee Jun-seok was briefly the leader of the PPP, and had helped Yoon narrowly win the 2022 presidential election. He later clashed with Yoon and was ousted from the PPP. Lee told reporters on Tuesday that the PPP should have focused on reform rather than unifying candidates. "That's the challenge given to pan-conservatives," he said. Kim blamed infighting during the primary process that led to him filing legal challenges against the PPP after then-acting President Han Duck-soo resigned to contest the elections despite the party selecting Kim as its candidate. The two men spent a week clashing over efforts to form a unity ticket. "We picked our candidate in a way that even a small child thinks doesn't make sense... I think we need deep soul-searching and reform," Kim said on Wednesday as he kneeled in apology to party members and the public. 'TEAR DOWN OUR HOUSE' Others pointed to the PPP's failure to fully separate itself from Yoon's unpopular and unconstitutional martial law. "They failed to draw in moderate voters," said political commentator Park Sangbyoung. "Instead, Yoon Suk Yeol sided with far-right ideas, and Kim Moon-soo, who has a history of working with far-right groups, was their candidate." Park said the "complete downfall" of the conservatives could damage Korean politics. "To be a true opposing force against the Lee administration, they need to be reborn, even resorting to blowing up the party and creating a new one," Park said. South Korea's conservatives have staged unlikely comebacks before. Yoon is the second conservative president in a row to be removed from office, after Park Geun-hye was impeached and jailed in a corruption scandal in 2017. Shin Yul, a political science professor at Myongji University, said "until they clear the mess inside" it will be difficult for the right to stand up to Lee. "Rather than crisis of conservatives, I would call it the falling of People Power Party because of its leadership that runs the party based on self-interests, not fundamental values," he said. In the wake of Yoon's impeachment, then-PPP leader Han Dong-hoon promised that the president would resign and the party would help lead an interim government. When Yoon and his backers rejected that plan and fought his removal, it divided the party and led to Han's resignation. On Wednesday Han, who unsuccessfully ran for the PPP nomination, said the party needs to cooperate with the new liberal administration on economy and security but it must not compromise on challenging any effort by the ruling party to "destroy the judiciary system". The PPP has accused the Democratic Party of trying to pass bills that they say are meant to shield President Lee, who faces a slew of corruption charges, from any further legal troubles. "Please do not give up," Han said. "It is the last chance to end the same old politics and to establish politics that put the people first." Lawmaker Park Jeong-hoon said in a Facebook post that the party must change if it wants to survive. "We must tear down our house and rebuild it. This is not a matter of factions but a matter of the party's survival." REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
