SINGAPORE — The Singapore People’s Party (SPP) is likely to vie for seven seats in the next General Election (GE), returning to the areas where the opposition party stood in the last polls in 2015, its secretary-general Steve Chia said on Saturday (March 14).

The 50-year-old party chief, who took over the reins from opposition icon Chiam See Tong last November, was speaking to TODAY during one of its walkabouts at Block 152 Bishan Street 11, a day after the release of the electoral boundaries report. 

Mr Chia added that he will be meeting with his party’s central executive committee on Saturday night to finalise plans and “activate” their electoral processes.

The seven seats the party is eyeing are:

• Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency (SMC)
• Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC), which will now have four Members of Parliament, down from the current five
• Marymount SMC, which is carved out from parts of Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC
• Mountbatten SMC

Mr Chia confirmed that besides himself, SPP chairman Jose Raymond would be fielded. He however declined to comment on whether Mr Chiam’s wife, Mrs Lina Chiam, 70, will be fielded and who the other five candidates would be. 

Mrs Chiam had contested twice in Potong Pasir, but lost both times to the incumbent People’s Action Party’s (PAP) candidate, Mr Sitoh Yih Pin. While she lost by a narrow margin of 114 votes, securing 49.6 per cent of the votes in the GE2011, the margin widened in the GE2015 when she garnered just 33.6 per cent of the votes.

The new Potong Pasir SMC will take in parts of Marine Parade GRC bounded by MacPherson Road, Paya Lebar Road and Bartley Road, adding an extra 5,404 voters under it following the latest review of boundaries. 

But one of its original five polling districts, which has 3,592 voters, has been subsumed under Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

Mr Raymond, 47, who has been seen walking the ground in Potong Pasir, said: “I’ve already been studying the new boundaries and will start the outreach to the new areas under Potong Pasir SMC soonest.”

As for Bishan-Toa Payoh, where Mr Chia has been walking the ground, the number of electors had shrunk from 126,556 to 100,036, as 10 of its original 44 polling districts were moved out.

Two of them with 6,673 voters now come under Jalan Besar GRC, while eight of them with a total of 23,439 voters form the new Marymount SMC.

Mr Chia said his party will not give up on the areas that now come under Marymount SMC as they had been working hard to reach the electors there.

The boundaries of Mountbatten SMC – previously contested by former vice-chairman Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss, who has since left the party – will remain unchanged.

‘NOT THE TIME FOR PARTISAN POLITICS’

Mr Chia also reiterated the message from the SPP’s press release on Friday that holding a general election amid the Covid-19 outbreak would be “most irresponsible”.

“We think this is not the time. This is the time to stay united and fight the infection of Covid-19 and not escalate political activities and create more worst case situations,” he said. 

Singapore Democratic Party’s chief Chee Soon Juan echoed this sentiment during his party’s outreach event, also held on Saturday morning. 

“Let's leave aside politics for the time being. Let's come together to do what we can to arrest the situation and get Singaporeans psychologically, physically, emotionally, all, together first,” he said at a blood donation drive at Dhoby Ghaut.  

He added that governments are “grappling all over the world” and experts are speculating that there might be an improvement. 

“Why do it now? Unless, unless you want to do this for your own political advantage, your own political interests,” said Dr Chee.  

Referring to the election deadline of April 2021, he said: “What we want to do is tell this Government, you've still got time, don't hold this elections until you see clear signs that the situation has abated and there are very obvious signs that the whole situation has just subsided.”