GE2025: WP's Pritam Singh leads team with two new faces Fadli Fawzi, Kenneth Tiong against PAP in Aljunied GRC
[SINGAPORE] Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh will lead a team comprising two new faces, without incumbent Faisal Manap, to defend Aljunied GRC against the ruling People's Action Party at the May 3 general election.
Faisal, who made his political debut in 2011, will be leading WP's team of of four first-timers in Tampines GRC
The WP team for Aljunied GRC comprises Singh, who is Leader of the Opposition, two incumbents – party chair Sylvia Lim and Gerald Giam, as well as Fadli Fawzi and Kenneth Tiong.
Fadli, a lawyer, first contested as part of the WP's Marine Parade GRC team, whereas Kenneth Tiong, a first-timer, is an AI startup founder.
Ahead of Nomination Day, there had been speculation that one of WP's senior party leaders may strike out elsewhere, with Aljunied GRC now come to be seen as one of WP's stronghold.
Faisal's move mirrors that of former WP chief Low Thia Kiang, who ventured out of Hougang SMC after 20 years to contest in Aljunied GRC in GE2011.
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The PAP's team led by Chan Hui Yuh, who contested in the previous election, consists of four first-timers: company director Adrian Ang, managing director of an urban planning consultancy Daniel Liu, dental surgeon Faisal Abdul Aziz and unionist Jagathishwaran Rajo.
Meanwhile, WP's Dennis Tan, the incumbent at Hougang SMC, will defend his ward against PAP new face and lawyer Marshall Lim.
Both parties arrived at Poi Ching School, one of the nine Nomination Centres across Singapore, at shortly before 11am on Wednesday (Apr 23), flanked by supporters.
Both parties' candidacies were confirmed at 12.30pm, with no objections raised by any of the candidates.
Aljunied GRC became the first GRC to be won by the opposition in GE2011, when WP's historic victory unseated three political heavyweights in one fell swoop, including then-foreign affairs minister George Yeo.
The GRC has come to be seen as one of WP's two crown jewels, alongside Hougang SMC, which the party has held since 1991.
The PAP has not been able to reclaim the GRC despite coming very close in 2015, when WP scraped a victory with a much smaller margin – securing just 50.96 per cent of the votes. That year, all wards saw a big swing towards the ruling party as Singaporeans celebrated SG50 and mourned the death of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.
However, WP bounced back by GE2020, held in the middle of a global pandemic, when they took a decisive 59.95 per cent of the votes. The party also won its second GRC — Sengkang GRC — the same year.
If elected, Tiong will replace former MP Leon Perera, who resigned in 2023 after his extramarital affair with fellow party member Nicole Seah was exposed.
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