Singapore election 2025: PAP wins East Coast GRC
[SINGAPORE] The incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) has retained East Coast GRC, fending off the Workers' Party (WP) with 58.76 per cent of the votes.
The ruling party's result is an improvement of more than five percentage points over its vote share in the last election, when the team won against the WP with a narrower margin of 53.39 per cent.
The PAP team, led by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, comprises incumbents Jessica Tan and Tan Kiat How, and newcomers Dinesh Vasu Dash and Hazlina Abdul Halim.
They were up against the WP team comprising former Non-Constituency MP Yee Jenn Jong, first-time candidates Paris V Parameswari, Jasper Kuan, Sufyan Mikhail Putra and Nathaniel Koh, who is a returning candidate.
Yee, who retired from active politics post-GE2020, made his political comeback to lead the WP's East Coast GRC team of mostly newcomers. The 60-year-old has said that this will be the fourth and final time he runs for election.
He first ran in Joo Chiat SMC in GE2011, where his marginal loss – by 388 votes – earned him an appointment as Non-Constituency MP. After Joo Chiat was merged into Marine Parade GRC, Yee contested there in GE2015 and GE2020.
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After the release of the Electoral Boundaries Committee Report this year, the Joo Chiat precinct was moved into East Coast GRC.
Poorer WP performance
This was the fifth time that the WP is contesting in East Coast GRC, but its performance this round was poorer than in the last election.
In GE2020, the party had its best performance in the GRC with 46.61 per cent of the votes. The team then comprised opposition star Nicole Seah, Kenneth Foo, Terence Tan, Dylan Tan and Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim.
As for the PAP, Tong was moved to anchor East Coast GRC, from Marine Parade GRC, after his wards in Joo Chiat were moved into the constituency.
He replaced former deputy prime minister Heng Swee Keat, who was shifted to East Coast GRC at the eleventh hour on Nomination Day in GE2020.
The two newcomers replaced former officeholder Maliki Osman and incumbent Cheryl Chan, who have stepped down from politics.
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