PAP sets the record in Jurong GRC with blistering 79.3% win

Singapore

THE People's Action Party (PAP) retained Jurong GRC with a thumping 79.3 per cent of the vote, fobbing off the fledging Singaporeans First (SingFirst) party in the 2015 GE.

Jurong GRC was also the best performing ward for the PAP in GE2015.

The victory was expected with Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam leading the Jurong GRC team; what was not expected was the admiration he drew from the Opposition during the hustings.

At a rally, Mr Tharman was called "the most brilliant of our current ministers" by Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) candidate Paul Tambyah.

The other PAP teammates for Jurong GRC are Minister of State for National Development Desmond Lee, backbencher and senior vice-president of SBS Transit bus operations Ang Wei Neng, former deputy registrar of the Syariah Court Rahayu Mahzam and oncologist Tan Wu Meng.

The PAP incumbents were up against a SingFirst team made up of information technology consultant Wong Chee Wai, retired army colonel Tan Peng Ann, sales director Wong Soon Hong, chemist David Foo and retired police officer Sukdeu Singh. SingFirst is one of the newest political parties in Singapore, it was registered about a year ago.

The PAP won 95,080 votes versus 24,848 votes for SingFirst. Rejected votes came to 2,432. Jurong GRC lost Bukit Batok ward, but gained Clementi from West Coast GRC in the 2015 boundary changes.

The PAP won 66.96 per cent of the vote in the 2011 GE, and saw the ruling party's second-best performance in a GRC in that election.

Over at West Coast GRC, the PAP won with 78.57 per cent of the vote in a rematch with the Reform Party (RP).

The PAP got 71,091 votes versus 19,392 votes for the RP. Rejected votes were 2,415.

West Coast GRC in 2015 is a smaller ward, as Clementi had been carved out to come under Jurong GRC due to the redrawn boundaries. The GRC team was reduced to four members from the previous five.

The PAP team is made up of Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang, Second Minister for Home Affairs and Trade and Industry S Iswaran, Foo Mee Har and Patrick Tay. Only Mr Tay is new to West Coast GRC; he previously represented Nee Soon.

The RP team comprised secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam, chairman Andy Zhu, Darren Soh and Noraini Yunus. Both Mr Jeyaretnam and Mr Zhu had contested West Coast GRC in 2011.

In an interview after the sample count was announced, a disappointed Mr Jeyaretnam said that he saw the results coming as the party didn't get an influx of volunteers.

He also said that the RP's dismal showing was also reflected nationwide with a "huge swing for the PAP".

The RP took 33.43 per cent of the vote in West Coast in 2011, against PAP's 66.57 per cent.

In Bukit Batok single member constituency (SMC), the PAP's David Ong won with 72.99 per cent of the vote in a three-corner fight.

His opponents were the Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP) Sadasivam Veriyah who got 26.4 per cent and independent Samir Salim Neji who received 0.6 per cent of the vote.

Mr Ong received 18,204 votes versus Mr Veriyah's 6,585. Mr Neji received 150 votes.

Bukit Batok SMC was one of three SMCs which saw a three-way contest in this election.

In Yuhua SMC, the PAP won with 73.54 per cent of the votes in a rematch against the SDP.

Incumbent Grace Fu, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, and Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Environment and Water Resources had 15,298 of the votes. She has been the MP for Yuhua since 2006.

She faced SDP candidate Jaslyn Go, a sales director of a construction company she started with her husband.

Ms Go got 5,505 of the votes. Rejected votes were 388.

In the 2011 GE, SDP fielded Teo Soh Lung, a former political detainee. Ms Fu won Yuhua SMC with 66.86 per cent of the votes in 2011.

In an interview before the final results were known, Ms Fu said that she was happy to see the improvement and it was a "strong endorsement" from the residents which comes with strong responsibility.

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