GE2025: PAP wins four-way fight in Tampines GRC, WP to get one NCMP seat

CNA

03-05-2025

SINGAPORE: The People's Action Party (PAP) has emerged as the winner in a four-way fight for Tampines Group Representation Constituency (GRC), getting 52.02 per cent of the vote in Singapore's General Election on Saturday (May 3).
A PAP team led by Social and Family Development Minister Masagos Zulkifli defeated teams from the Workers' Party (WP), National Solidarity Party (NSP) and People's Power Party (PPP).
PAP's victory this year was significantly lower than its winning margin in 2020, when it defeated a team from NSP with about 66.4 per cent of the vote.
This round, it was the WP team led by former Aljunied GRC Member of Parliament (MP) Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap that chipped away at the incumbent's vote share, with the opposition party winning 47.37 per cent of the vote share in its first outing in the constituency.
The contesting teams from NSP, which had 0.18 per cent of the vote, and PPP with 0.43 per cent, both lost their election deposits.
A Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) seat will also be offered to a member of the WP's team, given its narrow loss to PAP.
In his speech after the results were announced, Mr Masagos thanked the party's voters and volunteers and called for unity moving ahead.
'Now that the General Election is over, let's come together as one united people,' he said.
'Let's work together to make Tampines a caring community, because this is how we forge ahead as we face critical challenges and embrace opportunities that are before us.'
Separately, the WP team thanked its supporters during its speech, while party member Michael Thng dedicated special thanks to Mr Faisal.
'For taking the brave step to come forward and join our team and take the risk with us and put yourself out there for Tampines, for that we will be eternally grateful and we really thank you, Faisal,' Mr Thng said.
SPOTLIGHT ON RELIGION AND POLITICS
Tampines GRC was the most contested constituency out of the 33 in this General Election.
NSP, which contested the GRC at the last three elections, won almost 34 per cent of vote in 2020.
For its fourth attempt this year, it fielded a team comprising party president Reno Fong and vice-president Mohd Ridzwan Mohammad, who both contested in the GRC in 2020 along with three other members.
PPP and WP are contesting the constituency for the first time this year, with political observers noting that for WP, which is Singapore's largest opposition party, entering the fray in Tampines is part of its strategy to concentrate efforts in the eastern region.
During the hustings, a spotlight was cast on Tampines GRC after the authorities directed Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, to block Singapore users' access to several instances of online election advertising for posts on Facebook by two Malaysian politicians and a former Internal Security Act detainee who is now a citizen of Australia.
Among other things, they criticised the Singapore government's handling of sensitive religious issues and urged Singaporeans to vote along religious lines.
Malaysia-based Singaporean religious teacher Noor Deros also took to social media to criticise Mr Masagos while calling on voters to cast their ballots for Mr Faisal, while claiming to have met the WP's Malay candidates to convey a list of demands in exchange for support at the polls.
When asked by the media about this during campaigning, Mr Faisal insisted that the contest for Tampines GRC was about "a team versus another team" and that he did not see himself as 'going against Masagos'.
Mr Faisal also said then that he was open to meeting 'everyone for the sake of listening', but that listening did not mean agreeing.
Before that, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said that foreigners urging Singaporeans to vote along religious lines have "crossed the line" and that Singaporeans alone should decide on Singapore politics.
Several opposition parties, including WP, followed suit in speaking out against foreign interference in the General Election.
During a visit to Tampines GRC, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong cautioned against the 'very vicious' set of conversations sparked by the foreign posts and asked Singaporeans to 'understand the games being played online'.
The fight for Tampines GRC was enough for Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to do a walkabout there during the election campaign. Asked what his visit signalled at the time, he said it showed that PAP took the election seriously, both at the national and constituency levels.
Tampines GRC saw its electoral boundaries changed this year. Parts of the GRC were carved out to create Tampines Changkat Single Member Constituency, while areas in Tampines West – east of Bedok Reservoir – were absorbed from Aljunied GRC.
WP "BRANDING" CONTRIBUTED TO STRONG SHOWING
Political analyst and former nominated MP Eugene Tan pointed to three factors that contributed to WP's relatively strong showing at Tampines GRC: 'The party branding, a relatively strong slate and a controversy stirred voters.'
The associate professor of law at Singapore Management University said that Tampines GRC was a 'battleground constituency' given the racial make-up of the constituents there, as well as the face-off between Mr Masagos and Mr Faisal as 'they had previously clashed in parliament over Malay-Muslim community issues'.
During PAP's press conference after the election results were announced, Mr Wong, who is also the party's secretary-general, acknowledged the occurrence of " negative politics" in terms of calls to vote along racial or religious lines during the campaigning period.
'I had to call it out in the middle of the campaign, because this was such an important matter.
"The situation did improve after that, but there were still views, comments online and some of them were quite vicious. And they would continue to circulate, although less than before the press conference I held,' he said.
Asked about his assessment on the support that PAP received from the Malay-Muslim community against this backdrop, Mr Wong said: 'At this stage, we haven't done deep dives or detailed analysis on which groups, which segments, voted or didn't vote for us, and what were the considerations.
"Did it have an impact on the election outcomes? Perhaps, some. How much? I don't know, because we'll have to do a more detailed analysis after today.'
Mr Masagos, speaking in Malay, said at the press conference that he would take a new approach moving forward, to reach out to the Malay-Muslim community in order to better understand their concerns and ensure that the issues they raise would be addressed.
'But I also urge the community, after the end of this General Election, let us unite and build our community together, because there's so much that we can achieve together.'
On the other opposition parties' performance in Tampines GRC, Assoc Prof Tan from SMU told CNA that it shows how voters are discerning and will not split their votes if they intend to vote for the opposition.
'It also indicates that some opposition parties are increasingly irrelevant in the political landscape with both PPP and NSP losing their deposits,' he added.
On the NCMP seat to be given to one of WP's Tampines GRC team members, independent political observer Felix Tan commented that it would likely go to Mr Thng, pointing to his performance during a televised roundtable discussion and his ability to put across his party's policies to the audience.
'But of course, the policies come from the party itself, not just from him, but I think he's able to consolidate and collate the thoughts more coherently and ... able to present them to the voters, to Singaporeans as well," Dr Felix Tan said during a Polling Day special programme broadcast on CNA.
"And I think he would perform pretty well in parliament as an NCMP.'
Over at PAP's Tampines GRC team, former Chief of Army David Neo was earlier pointed out by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong as a candidate with the potential to hold political office.
Asked on the CNA programme about whether this would have mattered to voters, Dr Mustafa Izzuddin, a senior international affairs analyst with policy and business consultancy Solaris Strategies Singapore, said that although 'the prime minister can send such a message', what contributes to the voters' decision is the candidate's own performance on the ground.