GE2025: PM Wong's PAP team retains Marsiling Yew-Tee GRC with 73.46 per cent of the votes

Straits Times

03-05-2025

SINGAPORE - Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has led his PAP team in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC to a win against the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) wit h 73.46 per cent of the votes, in his first election as prime minister.
This marked an improvement from 2020 when his PAP team defeated SDP with 63.18 per cent of the votes, and from 2015, when PAP won by 68.73 per cent.
In his acceptance speech at Yio Chu Kang Stadium, PM Wong thanked the voters of the constituency for 'the strong mandate' they had given him and his team.
'This is my first election as prime minister and secretary-general of the PAP. So it has been a very humbling experience working with all of you, interacting and engaging with all of you.'
The PAP's Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC slate remains unchanged from 2020 and also consists of Senior Minister of State for Defence and Manpower Zaqy Mohamad, 50; North West District Mayor Alex Yam, 43; and Ms Hany Soh, 37.
Their SDP opponents were party organising secretary Jufri Salim, 41; theatre director Alec Tok, 60; alternative media site Wake Up Singapore's founder Ariffin Sha, 27; and Dr Gigene Wong, 59, a former businesswoman.
PM Wong also fared better than his predecessor, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in his first general election as prime minister.
In SM Lee's first election as prime minister in 2006, the Ang Mo Kio GRC team anchored by him beat the WP with 66.1 per cent of the votes, slightly below the PAP's national average of 66.6 per cent.
PM Wong's margin of victory in his GRC is also comparable to that of Emeritus Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong's maiden election as prime minister in 1991: Mr Goh's Marine Parade GRC swept 77.3 per cent of the votes against the now defunct Singapore Justice Party, well above the PAP's national average of 61.0 per cent.
Mr Abdul Samad, a PAP supporter from the Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC, was all smiles at Yio Chu Kang Stadium on May 3.
'I have no doubt that he will win,' said the 52-year-old of PM Lawrence Wong.
'When I saw other (PAP candidates) also win, to me that sends a strong signal that we are in safe hands for the next five years.'
Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC was first formed in 2015 from parts of Chua Chu Kang GRC and Sembawang GRC that had seen significant population growth.
It is one of nine constituencies whose boundaries were kept intact by the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee in its March 11 report. It now has 119,559 voters, up from 117,077 in 2020.
PM Wong and Mr Yam have represented Marsiling Yew-Tee GRC since its formation in 2015. The PAP and SDP have had straight fights in the constituency in the last three general elections.
At the 2025 General Election, Mr Ariffin of the SDP said some people had called his team the 'suicide squad' for contesting in PM Wong's constituency.
Cost of living concerns took centre stage during the election. Most opposition parties, including the SDP, criticised the Government's decision to raise the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 7 per cent to 9 per cent despite inflationary pressures.
SDP's manifesto called for the GST to be reduced back to 7 per cent, and its chief Chee Soon Juan said that the tax on luxury goods could be raised to 13 or 14 per cent.
In response to criticisms over the GST hike, PM Wong said at the Fullerton rally on April 28 said that foreigners, tourists and higher-income families pay the entire GST of 9 per cent, while permanent GST vouchers ensure that the lower- and middle-income Singaporeans pay less than the headline GST rate.
In the middle of the hustings, SDP's Marsiling Yew-Tee GRC candidate Gigene Wong drew the ire of netizens for using a racial slur to refer to Mr Ariffin, her teammate.
At the party's rally on April 26, she had referred to Mr Ariffin as 'keling kia', a derogatory term historically used to demean people of Indian descent. She also mispronounced his name, calling him 'elephant' instead of 'Ariffin'.
At a rally the next day, Dr Chee and Dr Wong apologised to Singaporeans and Mr Ariffin for the faux pas. She said she did not know that the term she used was disrespectful and harmful, but that was no excuse for her actions.
Speaking to The Straits Times at the SDP's assembly ground at MOE (Evans) Stadium after the sample count was released on May 3, SDP chairman Paul Tambyah said he believed that the incident had not significantly affected the party's vote share in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC.
He noted that the SDP team in the constituency was led by Mr Jufri, a first-time candidate, and had comprised relatively new candidates. He added that the party had performed as expected in the constituency.
Professor Tambyah added that the party had taken swift disciplinary action against Dr Wong, such as by issuing her a stern warning and restricting her public speaking engagements following the incident.
Speaking to the media at MOE Evans Stadium, Mr Ariffin encouraged young people to never give up on their dreams and to keep striving.
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