GE2025: DPM Gan Kim Yong surprises by leading PAP Punggol GRC team against WP; SDA runs in Pasir Ris-Changi GRC

[SINGAPORE] In an 11th-hour surprise, Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong will lead the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) team for Punggol GRC, facing off against a Workers’ Party (WP) team led by “star catch” Harpreet Singh.

On Wednesday (Apr 23), DPM Gan made an unexpected appearance at Yusof Ishak Secondary School – not the nomination centre for Chua Chu Kang GRC, where he was earlier introduced as the PAP team’s anchor minister.

Instead, DPM Gan is leading the PAP’s Punggol GRC team, comprising Senior Minister of State Janil Puthucheary; Minister of State Sun Xueling; and National Trades Union Congress assistant secretary-general Yeo Wan Ling.

Such a last-minute swap “happens all the time”, DPM Gan later told reporters, adding it was dependent on the “situation and availability of candidates”.

But he acknowledged that he has big shoes to fill with the retirement of Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean, who anchored the former Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

DPM Gan also thanked the residents of his former ward in Chua Chu Kang, saying they would be in good hands with his replacement, Manpower Minister Tan See Leng.

In Punggol GRC, the PAP faces a WP team of four newcomers: Singh, Jackson Au, Alexis Dang and Siti Alia Mattar.

The WP’s entry to the newly formed Punggol GRC marks a continuation of its push into Singapore’s north-east – where it holds neighbouring Sengkang GRC – and follows months of ground activity.

Asked if the WP had expected DPM Gan’s presence in Punggol GRC, He Ting Ru said that regardless of the team fielded by the PAP, her party would “give it their all”. She is leading the defending WP team in Sengkang GRC.

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Punggol is Singapore’s youngest town, with more than half of its 120,000-strong electorate estimated to be aged between 21 and 45. The new GRC comprises former Punggol West SMC – which WP contested in 2020 – and parts of the now-defunct Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

Pasir Ris-Changi reprise

In Pasir Ris-Changi GRC, SDA chairman Desmond Lim leads a team comprising secretary-general Abu Mohamed, Harminder Pal Singh and Chia Yun Kai – the founder of the Most Valuable Party.

Chia had previously indicated his intention to contest East Coast GRC, but could not find sufficient people for a team.

The new GRC combines areas from East Coast GRC and the now-defunct Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. In a three-way fight for the latter in GE2020, SDA secured 23.67 per cent of the vote, behind the PAP’s 64.16 per cent but ahead of People’s Voice’s 12.17 per cent.

The SDA now faces a PAP team comprising Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Indranee Rajah, who moved there from Tanjong Pagar GRC, incumbents Senior Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Desmond Tan and Sharael Taha, and newcomer Valerie Lee.

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