GE2025: PAP keeps opposition guessing with last-minute deployments on Nomination Day
SINGAPORE – It was yet another deputy prime minister surprise switch as DPM Gan Kim Yong appeared at Yusof Ishak Secondary School at about 11.20am.
It signalled his potential filling of the vacant anchor minister slot in the newly-formed Punggol GRC, one of the hottest wards of this general election.
Back in 2020, DPM Heng Swee Keat was the one pulling off the surprise, when he was a Nomination Day switch from Tampines GRC to East Coast GRC.
Those watching the PAP's candidate deployments closely over the past few months would have already raised an eyebrow at how many times new faces were switched from ward to ward, sometimes from the West to the East.
These changes continued right up to the last hour on Nomination Day itself, with full-fledged ministers moving in a calculated fashion.
Manpower Minister Tan See Leng, who had earlier appeared at 9.30am where the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights team was meeting, later emerged at Jurong Pioneer Junior College, the nomination centre for Chua Chu Kang GRC.
Both men had been announced last week as returnees to the constituencies they had contested in 2020 – MPBH for Dr Tan and CCK for DPM Gan.
New face and former SAF brigadier-general Goh Pei Ming, who had been missing all morning, ended up as the missing name for the MPBH slate.
Through all the smoke and mirrors, the PAP kept everyone – the residents and the opposition – guessing right to the last minute.
It had already pulled off some surprise moves before Nomination Day, by switching Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah from Tanjong Pagar to helm Pasir Ris-Changi GRC, and completely overhauling the Nee Soon GRC team, with Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam leading a team of four rookies.
Confident read of the tea leaves
The Nomination Day moves – done in secrecy and with changes up to the eve of the hustings – suggest a quiet confidence in their reading of the opposition's movements.
Each change appeared to go toe to toe with the movements of the Workers' Party, the second-biggest political party in Singapore with decades of parliamentary experience among its members.
Both Punggol and East Coast GRCs had been highlighted by political observers as hot wards to watch since the release of the electoral boundaries report in March.
In both areas, the PAP had its plans ready.
It had DPM Gan up its sleeve, while publicly dangling DPM Heng and Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean as pieces still in play.
On April 23 morning, both DPM Heng and SM Teo appeared at the PAP's Punggol West branch, where the teams that were heading to Yusof Ishak Secondary School were meeting.
As nomination proceedings closed, it was revealed that DPM Gan was moved to Punggol, bolstering the slate there. His name was handwritten on the nomination papers displayed at the centre, while his teammates' names were printed on the forms.
This move brings him head-to-head with the WP, who fielded newcomer senior counsel Harpreet Singh and three other new faces in Punggol.
While DPM Gan is not the PM-in-waiting that DPM Heng was in 2020, he has a national profile upped by his co-chairing of the multi-ministry task force amid the Covid-19 pandemic and almost 25 years of political experience.
He was recently named to chair a new Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce that aims to help businesses and workers navigate the uncertainties arising from the US tariffs and global uncertainty, at a time when many economists expect a slowdown in growth globally.
In East Coast, the PAP fielded a line-up that was not that surprising: Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, Senior Minister of State for National Development Tan Kiat How, four-term backbencher Jessica Tan and new candidate Hazlina Abdul Halim that had been present at constituency events in the last few weeks.
It switched out one new face for another - moving out Mr Goh Pei Ming, who had been present on the ground recently, and brought back former Agency for Integrated Care chief executive Dinesh Vasu Dash who was seen in East Coast early in April but had been quiet as of late.
Those who had speculated WP's Harpreet Singh or even party chief Pritam Singh to contest East Coast would have also expected PAP to deploy extra firepower to East Coast.
But the party read the tea leaves correctly – most of the senior WP leaders stayed put in Aljunied GRC – and the opposition slate sent to contest East Coast is instead led by party veteran Yee Jenn Jong.
While Mr Yee's team will still put up a respectable contest – Mr Tong had called Mr Yee a 'strong opponent' and said the 'WP has a credible team' – the deployment decisions show where the PAP team has calculated its risks in this general election.
It was so assured in its assessment that it deviated from its usual tradition of fielding a minister in every GRC.
The MPBH GRC slate was left to be anchored by Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng – and as it turned out, there was a walkover.
Will the tactical decisions pay off?
These last-minute switches appear to have given the PAP a strong hand as it heads into the hustings.
The party has stated repeatedly that it does not take it for granted that it will form the next Government. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has caveated multiple times that he does not know if he will remain as head of government after the election.
At an evening press conference after the nomination proceedings, PM Wong stressed this point: 'I fully expect this election to be a tough contest… My team and I will work very hard to make our case to Singaporeans and to win every vote in this changed world.'
With the troops deployed, the real battle is now on, with nine days of campaigning in the days ahead.
Candidates who have been switched or introduced at the last minute will have to work extra hard over the next week and a half to make their presence known and connect to the voters.
For now, PAP has played its cards well. On May 3, we'll find out if it can cash out.
Goh Yan Han is political correspondent at The Straits Times. She writes Unpacked, a weekly newsletter on Singapore politics and policy.
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