GE2015: PAP retains Holland-Bukit Timah GRC with 66.6%

[SINGAPORE] A four-man People's Action Party (PAP) team has won Holland-Bukit Timah GRC in a keenly watched contest against the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).

The PAP slate won 66.6 per cent of 94,010 votes cast, with the SDP securing the remaining 33.3 per cent. There were 1,500 spoilt votes.

The PAP team, unchanged from the 2011 general election (GE), was led by Minister for Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan. The other three were Minister of State for Education as well as Communications and Information Sim Ann, and backbenchers Christopher de Souza, a lawyer, and Liang Eng Hwa who is a managing director at DBS.

They had previously won 60.1 per cent of the votes in the ward in GE 2011 against an SDP team led by former civil servant Tan Jee Say, who now leads the Singaporeans First (SingFirst) party.

The SDP's team this round was led by its chief Chee Soon Juan. It also included professor of medicine Paul Tambyah, healthcare administrator Chong Wai Fung and compliance auditor Sidek Mallek.

GE 2015 had marked Dr Chee's comeback onto the political scene after his bankruptcy status kept him away from the previous two elections. His bankruptcy, which arose from a defamation suit by former prime ministers Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, was annulled in 2012, leaving the door open for him to contest in 2015.

Read more about GE2015 here.