SINGAPORE — Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam, the Reform Party (RP) candidate in the Punggol East by-election, remained unfazed about his chances, even though no residents turned up for a planned residents’ feedback session last night.

After about an hour’s wait, the 53-year-old proceeded to conduct door-to-door house visits. Still, he felt that the no-show by residents was no indication of how he will fare at the polls on Saturday.

“I don’t think it is any indication as to how people will vote,” said Mr Jeyaretnam. “What we’ve shown is that we’re here for the residents. We’ve actually got a lot of feedback from our walkabouts and house-to-house visits, and from our grassroots coordinators.”

The party also organised a session on Monday, which was meant for Punggol East residents wanting an informal chat with their candidate. It failed to get off the ground as Mr Jeyaretnam was absent because he was down with the flu. Only one resident turned up for the two-hour session to offer encouragement.

The RP chief yesterday said he was in favour of Opposition solidarity, but not Opposition unity. Workers’ Party chief Low Thia Khiang had said at a rally on Tuesday that it was “unworkable” for Opposition parties to unite.

Mr Jeyaretnam yesterday said that he was instead in favour of “Opposition solidarity”, where different parties are “coming together to fight for a common cause … while maintaining ... separate identities”. He said that his offer of part of the RP rally site to Singapore Democratic Alliance candidate Desmond Lim was his way of promoting Opposition solidarity.

“But we don’t endorse Desmond Lim,” he added. Heng Wei Xiang