GE2025: NSP, SDP fail in talks to avoid three-cornered fight in Sembawang GRC
The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Solidarity Party (NSP) have failed to reach an agreement to avoid a multi-cornered fight in Sembawang GRC.
In their meeting on April 9, SDP had asked NSP to contest in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC to avoid a multi-cornered fight in Sembawang GRC, a proposal which NSP said it has rejected.
Likening the proposal to the “exchanging of wives”, NSP secretary-general Spencer Ng said: “I couldn’t accept this kind of proposal where it goes against our party’s integrity and the value of the work that we have done in Sembawang GRC and Sembawang West SMC.”
Speaking to the media on April 12 during a walkabout in Woodlands Avenue 6, he added that NSP does not intend to contest in Holland-Bukit Timah, which opposition party Red Dot United (RDU) had indicated an interest in.
“We made our stand very clear to them, because it makes no sense to us to swop electoral areas like it’s just a piece of paper,” said Mr Ng, 45.
NSP, led by Mr Ng, is expected to contest both Sembawang GRC and the newly formed Sembawang West SMC.
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SDP chief Chee Soon Juan is also eyeing Sembawang West SMC after Bukit Batok SMC, where he had been active, was redrawn into the new Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.
Mr Ng, speaking to the media at Koufu coffee shop at Block 768 Woodlands Avenue 6, said: “The redrawing of the electoral map boundaries is something that a respectable, established opposition party should expect.
“If you cannot be ready for such a small thing like electoral map changes, how can you be ready to handle the changes that (Singapore faces) daily?”
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Mr Ng said NSP has been active in Sembawang since 2011. “We made a commitment that we will continue to serve here, and we will not back away,” he added.
An SDP team led by Dr Chee was also spotted having lunch in Koufu on April 12, after a walkabout at Block 768. Both parties saw each other, but did not meet.
SDP revealed its five-member slate for Sembawang GRC on April 6. Its chairman Paul Tambyah said his party has had a presence in the north of Singapore since 2006, when it first contested the constituency.
SDP last contested in the group representation constituency in 2011, when it secured 36.1 per cent of the votes.
He had earlier said that his party was still evaluating potential candidates to field in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC for the upcoming polls.
During NSP’s walkabout on April 12, Mr Ng was accompanied by Mr Zee Phay, 32, who started volunteering with NSP in 2011.
A financial consultant, Mr Phay is Mr Ng’s former student in North Vista Secondary School. “He is very bright, very intelligent, very motivated,” said Mr Ng.
New candidate Raiyian Chia, 46, and Ms Kevryn Lim, 36 – a former model who last stood in the 2015 election – were also at the walkabout.
NSP has not revealed its full slate in Sembawang, but the party said it will announce its candidates for Tampines GRC and Tampines Changkat SMC on April 13. THE STRAITS TIMES
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