PAP team helmed by Masagos retains Tampines GRC
The People’s Action Party (PAP) has retained Tampines GRC, scoring 66.41 per cent of the votes against the National Solidarity Party (NSP).
This was lower than its score in 2015, when it won 72.1 per cent. In 2011, it took 57.22 per cent of the vote.
This round, the NSP won 33.59 per cent of the votes.
This election, the PAP team did battle without its former anchor minister, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, at the helm.
Mr Heng, who is also the Finance Minister, left to strengthen the slate at the adjacent East Coast GRC, facing the Workers’ Party.
The five-member PAP team is led by Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli, 57. The others on it are Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Transport and Culture, Community and Youth Baey Yam Keng, 49; Mr Desmond Choo, 42; Ms Cheng Li Hui, 44, as well as Senior Minister of State for National Development and Trade and Industry Koh Poh Koon, 48, who was previously in Ang Mo Kio GRC.
The NSP slate for Tampines comprises party president Reno Fong Chin Leong, 51, Eugene Yeo Ren Yuan, 43, and Choong Hon Heng, 44.
This is the second Tampines GRC outing for Mr Fong and Mr Choong, while Mr Eugene had competed in Sembawang GRC previously. They were joined by two new faces this year: senior manager Mohamad Ridzwan, 58, and broker and recruiter Vincent Ng, 48.
The GRC expanded slightly this GE, by taking in parts of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, and now boasts some 151,589 registered voters – up from 143,518.
The PAP team there had largely campaigned on national issues, focusing on jobs amid the Covid-19 storm.
For instance, Mr Masagos pledged that Dr Koh, who is deputy secretary general of the labour movement, will work with unions to preserve workers’ job security.
NSP had put forward 14 proposals, including constituency-specific issues such the building of more amenities for the disabled and the elderly.
On the national front, it called for the abolition of the Singapore-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) if it is found to disadvantage local PMETs; and lower HDB flat prices.
Speaking to the media, Mr Fong addressed the higher vote share that his party had received in this election, commenting that the ruling PAP party “has not done as well as it should have over the last five years”.
He added: “Of course we are not happy about the result but we respect the will of the voters, and we of course thank those who have voted for us.”
The use of new media to conduct the election did not help, he said, adding that the NSP still prefers the traditional rallies which are “closer to ground”. - THE STRAITS TIMES
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