Latest news with #ParliamentaryElectionsActof1954
Independent Singapore
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Independent Singapore
GE2025: PAP wins at Tampines with 52% votes
SINGAPORE: The ruling People's Action Party (PAP) has won at Tampines GRC in a four-cornered fight that resulted in the opposition party being denied winning another GRC. The PAP team at Tampines is comprised of Social and Family Development Minister Masagos Zulkifli, 62; Senior Minister of State for Manpower and Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon, 53; Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and Sustainability and the Environment Baey Yam Keng, 54, and new candidates former chief of army David Neo, 47; and assistant professor of marketing at Nanyang Technological University Charlene Chen. The ruling party's team, headed by Mr Masagos, won with 52.02 per cent of the vote. This shows a decrease of over 14 per cent, as in GE2020, the PAP team had received 66.41 per cent of the vote against a team from the National Solidarity Party (NSP), which had gotten 33.59 per cent of the vote. At Tampines Changkat SMC, meanwhile, the PAP's Desmond Choo, 47, who has been overseeing Tampines Changkat in Parliament since 2015, bested WP candidate Kenneth Foo, winning 56.17 per cent of the vote to Mr Foo's 43.83 per cent. This year, the slate from the Workers' Party at Tampines GRC received 47.37 per cent of the vote. There had been much excitement on Nomination Day on April 23, when the WP announced that its vice chair, Faisal Manap, 49, who served as Member of Parliament at Aljunied GRC for three terms since 2011, would leave Aljunied to lead the WP team at Tampines. In a media interview on that day, WP chief Pritam Singh said, 'My dear brother has always wanted to stand in Tampines. So he's been asking me to consider that proposal from him for quite a long time already. He succeeded. Faisal Manap is in Tampines, and he is proud to lead the WP Tampines team.' Joining Mr Manap were three new candidates for the WP: former diplomat Eileen Chong, 32; business owner Jimmy Tan, 53; and tech start-up founder Michael Thng, 37. This year, the NSP received 0.18 per cent of the votes. Its team was made up of the party's president, Reno Fong, 56; vice-president Mohd Ridzwan Mohammad, 63; assistant secretary-general Eugene Yeo, 49; as well as Zee Phay, 32; and Thamilselvan Karuppaya, 57. As for the People's Power Party (PPP), it received 0.43 per cent of the vote. Its team comprised PPP secretary-general Goh Meng Seng, 55, Derrick Sim, 44; Vere Nathan, 26; Peter Soh, 65; and Arbaah Haroun, 50. With the results in, the NSP and PPP stand to lose their election deposits of $13,500. Under the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1954, the deposit for each candidate is the fixed monthly allowance payable to an elected MP for the month immediately before the date of dissolution of Parliament, rounded to the nearest $500. If a candidate is unable to win more than 12.5 per cent of the votes in their constituency, their election deposit is forfeited. /TISG Read also: 'The man of the day,' Faisal Manap is touched by warm welcome at Tampines
Independent Singapore
28-04-2025
- Business
- Independent Singapore
GE2025: Which candidates could lose their deposits?
- Advertisement - SINGAPORE: With less than a week to go before the May 3 polls, The Independent Singapore would like to hazard a guess as to who may be $13,500 poorer by the time votes are counted. We're talking about the deposit amount each candidate must pay, as announced by the Elections Department (ELD) on April 15. Under the Parliamentary Elections Act of 1954, the deposit for each candidate is the fixed monthly allowance payable to an elected MP for the month immediately before the date of dissolution of Parliament, rounded to the nearest $500. If a candidate is unable to win more than 12.5 per cent of the votes in their constituency, their election deposit is forfeited. For this year, who could that be? As elections are a numbers game, it stands to reason that the more candidates there are in any given constituency, the bigger their chances of losing their deposit, which is probably partly the reason for all the talk about the smaller opposition parties wanting to avoid multi-cornered fights in the run-up to Nomination Day. - Advertisement - Tampines GRC candidates from the National Solidarity Party (NSP) and the People's Power Party (PPP) may not have it easy. While the NSP put up a good fight against the PAP in GE 2020 in Tampines, winning 33.59% of the vote, this year is a different story. The WP team, led by vice chair Faisal Manap, together with former IMH director Ong Lue Ping, former diplomat Eileen Chong, Harvard graduate Michael Thng, and business owner Jimmy Tan, is a force to reckon with. While he has kept a lower profile than the WP luminaries, Mr Manap remains popular with the communities he represents. PPP chief Goh Meng Seng leads his party's team at Tampines. In 2020, he ran against the PAP's Tin Pei Ling at MacPherson SMC, winning 28.26% of the votes, which meant he got his deposit back. This year, however, he hasn't exactly endeared himself to voters. One or both opposition parties contesting at Ang Mo Kio GRC could also lose their deposit. The PAP team is led by former Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, making it a PAP stronghold. In the last election, the Reform Party challengers managed to win 28.09% of the votes. This year, the PPP and the Singapore United Party (SUP) are both fielding candidates at Ang Mo Kio. The third three-cornered fight is in Sembawang GRC. In 2020, the PAP team at Sembawang lost almost 5 percentage points to NSP compared to the 2015 polls. This year, however, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) entered the fray, led by Dr James Gomez, which may well split the opposition's vote share. If, however, it's divided evenly between the over 32% of votes that NSP received in 2020, then the deposits of the NSP and SDP candidates are safe. - Advertisement - At Potong Pasir SMC this year, with incumbent Sitoh Yih Pin stepping down, the PAP is fielding Alex Yeo, a former branch chairman at Aljunied. Mr Yeo is up against the Singapore People's Party's (SPP) Williamson Lee, as well as longtime politician Lim Tean from the People's Alliance for Reform, either of whom could end up losing their deposit. The seat of Potong Pasir is up for grabs, although the PAP won in the last election with 60.67%, and momentum is on its side. However, from 1984 to 2011, opposition leader Chiam See Tong from the SDP had held the seat at Potong Pasir, and residents may want to give it back to an opposition politician this year. Finally, at Radin Mas SMC, there are also three candidates vying for the seat: the incumbent, PAP's Melvin Yong, PAR's Kumar Appavoo, and an independent candidate, Darryl Lo. Mr Appavoo received nearly 26% of the votes at Radin Mas in 2020, which means Mr Lo will have to fight hard not to lose his deposit. /TISG Read also: Rotten Tomatoes: Here are the cringiest GE2025 candidates so far
