GE2025: Workers’ Party delivers series of surprises on Nomination Day
Senior Counsel Harpreet Singh was eventually fielded in Punggol GRC, contrary to earlier speculation
[SINGAPORE] After keeping its cards close to its chest, the Workers’ Party (WP) dealt a series of surprises on Nomination Day, from a no-show in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC to an unexpectedly strong Punggol slate.
In all, WP fielded 26 candidates across five GRCs and three single-seat wards.
Besides defending Aljunied and Sengkang GRCs, the WP is going up against the People’s Action Party (PAP) in East Coast and Punggol GRCs, and is in a four-cornered fight for Tampines GRC.
For single seats, it defends long-time stronghold Hougang and faces straight fights in Jalan Kayu and Tampines Changkat.
Just over half the candidates are newcomers, standing in their first general election. The remaining 12 are either incumbent MPs, or former candidates in previous elections.
The Harpreet Singh factor
One big question in the lead up to Nomination Day was where newcomer and “star catch” Harpreet Singh, 59, would be fielded.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
Speculation tended towards Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC – where the senior counsel was previously spotted – or East Coast GRC, where the WP was expected to field a strong team.
There was also the possibility that he would run solo – perhaps in the newly formed Jalan Kayu SMC, in a face-off with labour chief Ng Chee Meng.
Instead, fellow first-timer Andre Low, a 33-year-old product manager, will go head-to-head with former minister Ng, who was unseated by a team of WP fresh faces in GE2020.
SEE ALSO
Singh, meanwhile, is contesting Punggol GRC with three fellow newcomers: Alexis Dang, Siti Alia Mattar and Jackson Au.
But the PAP had its own surprises, with Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong making an eleventh-hour switch to helm its Punggol team, contrary to his earlier introduction as the anchor minister for Chua Chu Kang GRC.
This made for a heavyweight PAP slate of three political officers: DPM Gan, Minister of State for Home Affairs Sun Xueling and Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Janil Puthucheary. Rounding it out is incumbent Yeo Wan Ling.
East Coast plans
With the WP expected to field hard-hitters in five-member East Coast GRC – where it has run since GE2006 and traditionally done well – some thought party chief Pritam Singh or chair Sylvia Lim might leave stronghold Aljunied to boost the party’s chances there.
Instead, the party leaders stayed home, with former Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) Yee Jenn Jong leading the charge instead.
He is joined by three new candidates – Paris V Parameswari, Sufyan Mikhail Putra and Jasper Kuan – as well as Nathaniel Koh.
Yee was a one-term NCMP after a marginal loss in Joo Chiat SMC in GE2011. He and Koh were in WP’s GE2020 Marine Parade team.
In a partial rematch, they now face a PAP team led by Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, who was in the PAP’s GE2020 Marine Parade team.
This is as former East Coast GRC anchor minister DPM Heng Swee Keat announced his retirement from politics.
Tong replaces him in East Coast, leading a team comprising incumbents Tan Kiat How and Jessica Tan, as well as new faces Dinesh Vasu Dash and Hazlina Abdul Halim.
A four-cornered fight in the east
Observers expected the WP to put up a strong team for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, especially with the PAP having lost heavyweight Tan Chuan-Jin after he resigned following an extramarital affair with a fellow MP.
Instead, the WP chose to concentrate its efforts in Tampines despite the prospect of a multi-cornered fight, with the National Solidarity Party and People’s Power Party (PPP) staking claims before Nomination Day.
As a result, Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC – which the WP has contested since GE2015 – saw its first walkover since 2011.
Tampines GRC, meanwhile, will see Singapore’s first four-cornered fight for a GRC since the 1992 Marine Parade by-election.
PPP’s secretary-general Goh Meng Seng chastised the WP for entering into Tampines, saying that its absence in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights is “manipulating voters”.
Similarly, PAP incumbent Masagos Zulkifli said at a press conference that the WP is leaving a vacuum with its decision.
WP vice-chairman Faisal Manap became the only Aljunied GRC incumbent to leave, leading a Tampines team of newcomers: Ong Lue Ping, Eileen Chong, Michael Thng and Jimmy Tan.
Filling the space in Aljunied – one vacated by Leon Perera, who resigned in 2023 after an affair with fellow party member Nicole Seah – are former Marine Parade candidate Fadli Fawzi and newcomer Kenneth Tiong.
Similarly, newcomer Abdul Muhaimin Abdul Malik replaces former MP Raeesah Khan in an otherwise intact Sengkang GRC slate.
Kenneth Foo, part of WP’s East Coast team in the last election, will go up against incumbent Desmond Choo in the newly carved out Tampines Changkat SMC.
For more election coverage, visit our GE2025 microsite
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
