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WP queries SMCs lost in new electoral map; other opposition parties call possible GE amid Covid-19 ‘irresponsible’

SINGAPORE — The Workers’ Party (WP) on Friday (March 13) expressed concern over the freshly redrawn electoral map for the next General Election (GE) while other opposition parties are worried by the implication that the GE may be called amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

Workers' Party personnel at a rally in 2015.

Workers' Party personnel at a rally in 2015.

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SINGAPORE — The Workers’ Party (WP) on Friday (March 13) expressed concern over the freshly redrawn electoral map for the next General Election (GE) while other opposition parties are worried by the implication that the GE may be called amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

The opposition parties were reacting to the release on Friday of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee’s (EBRC’s) report, a step which is often regarded as a sign that a GE is not far off.

In a statement, the WP noted that the EBRC — composed of five high-ranking civil servants — chose to dissolve Sengkang West Single Member Constituency (SMC), Fengshan SMC and Punggol East SMC. It had deliberated for more than seven months.

The WP-held Hougang SMC was not affected by the latest boundary changes. The three soon-to-be-dissolved SMCs were highly contested in the 2015 GE, and were the next best performing single member wards for the opposition after Hougang.

In GE 2015, WP’s Ms Lee Li Lian had garnered 48.23 per cent of the vote in Punggol East, losing to the ruling People’s Action Party's (PAP's) Mr Charles Chong. This was followed by WP’s Mr Dennis Tan Lip Fong’s 42.5 per cent in Fengshan SMC, and WP’s Mr Koh Choong Yong’s 37.87 per cent in Sengkang West SMC.

The three SMCs will cease to exist after the next GE, which must be called before April 2021. Their polling districts will be subsumed under Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) including the new four-member Sengkang GRC.

Mr Tan also became one of three Non-Constituency Members of Parliament as he was one of the best performing opposition candidates in the last election, taking a seat in the House that would have gone to Ms Lee Li Lian had she not turned it down.

Said the WP in a media statement: “As is its custom, the EBRC has not disclosed how it came to its decisions.

“For instance, while the number of SMCs has increased from 13 to 14, the EBRC has not explained why it chose to carve out some new SMCs while dissolving Sengkang West, Fengshan and Punggol East SMCs, areas where WP has been active for many years.”

The EBRC had also taken longer than usual to complete its report, several opposition parties noted.

In the past five GEs, it took between two and seven months between the committee's formation and the report's release.

In past years, the release of the EBRC report has been followed within days or weeks by the dissolution of Parliament and the issuance of the writ of election. And in the past four GEs, Polling Day followed the report’s release within a period of between one and three months.

With the report out, there is finally clarity, said the WP. “The WP will decide on the areas where it can best serve Singaporeans, and make its announcement when the elections are called,” it said.

But several other opposition parties voiced their concerns about the possibility that the PAP Government would call an election amid the escalating and uncertain Covid-19 pandemic.

On Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat addressed the question of the election timing at an event organised by Singapore Press Holdings.

“If you have big challenges ahead, then surely you want to be able to spend time on these challenges. Therefore the key question is, will the challenges be greater now or will the challenges be greater a year from now?”

“So it depends on our assessment of the situation and I'm discussing (this) with the PM. PM will set out his thinking,” Mr Heng said, referring to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Mr Heng, who is also Finance Minister, is widely expected to take over from Mr Lee as prime minister sometime during the next term of government.

The Progress Singapore Party (PSP), which is led by former PAP parliamentarian Tan Cheng Bock, said the party welcomes the release of the EBRC after the report had taken a “long eight months”.

“The PSP is prepared for (the) GE anytime. However, with more than a year to go before reaching the constitutional time limit for the GE, the PSP is of the view that we should concentrate on fighting Covid-19 for now,” said its spokesperson Chika Tan.

On Thursday, prior to the report’s release, the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) urged the PAP Government to commit to delaying the GE until there are clear signs that Singapore “is seeing the tail-end of the virus spread”, stating that there was no urgency to hold an election in the middle of the crisis.

“All state resources should be focused on dealing with the spread of the virus which the World Health Organization has called a pandemic... The SDP has been repeatedly calling on Singaporeans to unite and co-operate with the authorities in this difficult time. Our priority is to rid ourselves of this health threat. Elections can come later,” said the SDP.

TODAY has sought further comment from the SDP on the EBRC report.

Likewise, the Singapore People’s Party (SPP) said holding a GE during the Covid-19 outbreak would be “most irresponsible”, exhorting the PAP Government to heed its own advice on avoiding mass gatherings.

“This is not the time for partisan politics, but for national unity. It would be nothing less than irresponsible for the Government to call for a GE while the Covid-19 situation is rapidly evolving,” said the party.

Mr Desmond Lim, chairman of an alliance of opposition parties, the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), said it would continue to contest in the downsized five-member Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC as well as one of the newly created SMCs, though he would not say which.

Asked for his thoughts on the EBRC report, People’s Power Party’s chief Goh Meng Seng said, without elaboration: “It is an extremely skewed report which serves PAP electoral interests. In fact, this report shows that PAP is determined to kick everyone out of Parliament except themselves.”

“We will be studying the report both as a party as well as an alliance,” said Mr Goh, whose party intends to form another opposition alliance with three other parties. The alliance, which so far has no name, is led by Singaporeans First Party (SingFirst) chief Tan Jee Say.

Mr Tan Jee Say, a former presidential candidate, told TODAY his party will also be studying the report over the weekend and has not decided where to field candidates yet.

He added that the Government would be “irresponsible” if it were to hold the GE during the Covid-19 outbreak. When asked if SingFirst was prepared to contest if that were to happen, Mr Tan said: It will be a difficult decision… Difficult because of public health consideration(s).”

Democratic Progressive Party chief Mohamad Hamim Aliyas said the number of SMCs was still on the lower side, adding that his party intends to contest in Bishan-Toh Payoh GRC under Mr Tan Jee Say's proposed alliance, and one other single ward seat , which he has not named.

Reform Party chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam in a statement claimed that the release of the report at this time was a "clear sign" that the PAP was "irresponsibly" seeking to gain a "further partisan advantage" by holding a GE in the middle of the outbreak.

He pointed out that some other countries were postponing the elections including the UK which had postponed its local and mayoral elections. He added that even if there was no ban on political rallies, it is "unlikely that many members of the public will want to attend". 

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