GE2025: PAP first-time candidate Gho Sze Kee takes Mountbatten SMC with 63.84% of votes
[SINGAPORE] The People's Action Party's (PAP) Gho Sze Kee defeated independent Jeremy Tan to win Mountbatten SMC with 63.84 per cent of the votes.
Tan, a retired entrepreneur and a first-time candidate, ended up with 36.16 per cent of the valid votes.
Gho received 12,507 votes to Tan's 7,083 votes, while the number of rejected votes was 473. Mountbatten SMC has 22,754 eligible voters.
Gho is an associate director of boutique law firm AsiaLegal. She replaces four-term MP Lim Biow Chuan, who is stepping down after nearly two decades of serving the area.
It is her first time contesting in an election. She has been a PAP activist since 2012 and the party's Bukit Timah branch secretary since December 2020.
In 2020, incumbent Lim won against Sivakumaran Chellappa of Peoples Voice (PV) party with 73.84 per cent of the votes.
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Independent candidate for Mountbatten SMC Jeremy Tan speaking at his rally on May 1. PHOTO: BT FILE
Opposition coalition People's Alliance for Reform (PAR) – which consists of PV, Reform Party and the Democratic Progressive Party – had largely been expected to field a candidate in Mountbatten SMC this election, with PV secretary-general Lim Tean earlier staking a claim on the single-seat ward.
The SMC was later revealed on Nomination Day to be a straight fight between Gho and Tan.
Tan claims to be Singapore's first 'Bitcoin candidate' and has proposed policies involving the digital currency, such as creating a Singapore dollar denominated Bitcoin exchange-traded fund on the Singapore Exchange to protect Singaporeans' savings.
He also told voters he planned to be a full-time MP if elected. Tan is one of two independent candidates who contested in GE2025, the other being Darryl Lo for Radin Mas SMC.
During her campaign, Gho said she has been walking the ground in Mountbatten with outgoing MP Lim over the past 10 months.
Together with her team, she said she has identified areas of improvement for the estate, such as connectivity improvements, childcare slots, constituency sports clubs, career help, mental health support and dog runs.
For more election coverage, visit our GE2025 microsite
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