SINGAPORE: The West Coast, East Coast and Marine Parade constituencies, which were among the most closely fought in the previous General Election, will undergo major electoral boundary changes for the upcoming polls.
At the 2020 election, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) edged the opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP) in West Coast and Workers’ Party (WP) in East Coast and Marine Parade.
In a report released on Tuesday (Mar 11), the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) recommended that West Coast GRC absorb some estates in Jurong West and Taman Jurong, and be renamed West Coast-Jurong West GRC.
To keep it as a five-seater GRC, estates in Harbourfront and Sentosa should be carved out from West Coast and placed under Radin Mas Single Member Constituency (SMC), the committee proposed.
Polling districts in Dover and Telok Blangah should also be moved to the adjacent Tanjong Pagar GRC, it added.
West Coast GRC was where a PAP team, led by then-Transport Minister S Iswaran, beat their PSP opponents with 51.69 per cent of the vote, making it the tightest contest of the 2020 GE.
The performance by PSP – led by former PAP MP Dr Tan Cheng Bock – scored the party two Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seats, now held by party chief Hazel Poa and Mr Leong Mun Wai.
Elsewhere, the EBRC recommended that the current Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC be broken up into two new four-seater GRCs: Punggol and Pasir-Ris Changi, with the latter formed by merging with adjacent Loyang and Flora estates in East Coast.
As a result, East Coast GRC will take in Chai Chee HDB estates and Siglap private estates from Marine Parade GRC; and stay as a five-MP lineup, the committee suggested.
In 2020, the PAP recorded one of its slimmest victories in East Coast GRC, securing 53.41 per cent of the votes against a WP slate.
A team led by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat faced off with a WP lineup of now-former member Nicole Seah, lawyers Terence Tan and Dylan Ng, associate director at Singapore Cancer Society Kenneth Foo and researcher Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim.
The PAP’s performance in East Coast then was a drop from the 60.73 per cent it achieved in the 2015 election, while the WP registered its strongest showing in the GRC since 2006.
The EBRC on Tuesday also recommended that Marine Parade GRC absorb some polling districts from Potong Pasir SMC, given the high population growth in the latter due to new public housing in the Bidadari estate.
Marine Parade GRC should additionally take in MacPherson SMC and an adjacent polling district from Mountbatten SMC, staying as a five-seater GRC, the committee said.
The constituency was once a stronghold for the incumbent party, with former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong at its helm.
He retired from politics in 2020 and the PAP’s performance weakened – dropping to 57.74 per cent of the vote from 64.07 per cent in 2015.
In that pandemic election, a PAP team comprising former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng, current Speaker Seah Kian Peng and Mr Fahmi Aliman emerged as winners over a WP team led by former NCMP Yee Jenn Jong.
Elsewhere, polling districts in Tampines West and east of Bedok Reservoir, currently under the WP-run Aljunied GRC, should be moved to Tampines GRC, the EBRC report said.
This would affect about 3,900 electors, of which 2,100 are from existing condominiums in the area and 1,800 from the newly completed Tampines South HDB estates.
The electoral boundaries in Aljunied were last changed in 2011, when the PAP lost the constituency to WP - the first time a GRC was captured by an opposition party.
There are no changes to the electoral boundaries in the other WP constituencies of Sengkang GRC – which will remain a four-seater – and Hougang SMC.
In the 2020 GE, WP’s slate comprising lawyer He Ting Ru, equity research analyst Louis Chua, social activist and now-former member Raeesah Khan and associate professor of economics Jamus Lim came out on top with 52.13 per cent of votes.
They defeated a PAP team consisting of labour chief Ng Chee Meng, then minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, political office holders Lam Pin Min and Amrin Amin, as well as lawyer Raymond Lye.
WP has held Hougang since 1991, when former party chief Low Thia Khiang won the single seat with an almost 12 per cent swing in votes. Former NCMP Dennis Tan then successfully defended the traditional WP stronghold in 2020, winning 61.2 per cent of the votes.
The government has accepted the EBRC’s recommendations and will implement them at the next General Election.
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At the 2020 election, the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) edged the opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP) in West Coast and Workers’ Party (WP) in East Coast and Marine Parade.
In a report released on Tuesday (Mar 11), the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) recommended that West Coast GRC absorb some estates in Jurong West and Taman Jurong, and be renamed West Coast-Jurong West GRC.
To keep it as a five-seater GRC, estates in Harbourfront and Sentosa should be carved out from West Coast and placed under Radin Mas Single Member Constituency (SMC), the committee proposed.
Polling districts in Dover and Telok Blangah should also be moved to the adjacent Tanjong Pagar GRC, it added.
West Coast GRC was where a PAP team, led by then-Transport Minister S Iswaran, beat their PSP opponents with 51.69 per cent of the vote, making it the tightest contest of the 2020 GE.
The performance by PSP – led by former PAP MP Dr Tan Cheng Bock – scored the party two Non-constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seats, now held by party chief Hazel Poa and Mr Leong Mun Wai.
Elsewhere, the EBRC recommended that the current Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC be broken up into two new four-seater GRCs: Punggol and Pasir-Ris Changi, with the latter formed by merging with adjacent Loyang and Flora estates in East Coast.
As a result, East Coast GRC will take in Chai Chee HDB estates and Siglap private estates from Marine Parade GRC; and stay as a five-MP lineup, the committee suggested.
In 2020, the PAP recorded one of its slimmest victories in East Coast GRC, securing 53.41 per cent of the votes against a WP slate.
A team led by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat faced off with a WP lineup of now-former member Nicole Seah, lawyers Terence Tan and Dylan Ng, associate director at Singapore Cancer Society Kenneth Foo and researcher Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim.
The PAP’s performance in East Coast then was a drop from the 60.73 per cent it achieved in the 2015 election, while the WP registered its strongest showing in the GRC since 2006.
The EBRC on Tuesday also recommended that Marine Parade GRC absorb some polling districts from Potong Pasir SMC, given the high population growth in the latter due to new public housing in the Bidadari estate.
Marine Parade GRC should additionally take in MacPherson SMC and an adjacent polling district from Mountbatten SMC, staying as a five-seater GRC, the committee said.
The constituency was once a stronghold for the incumbent party, with former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong at its helm.
He retired from politics in 2020 and the PAP’s performance weakened – dropping to 57.74 per cent of the vote from 64.07 per cent in 2015.
In that pandemic election, a PAP team comprising former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Edwin Tong, Minister for Manpower Tan See Leng, current Speaker Seah Kian Peng and Mr Fahmi Aliman emerged as winners over a WP team led by former NCMP Yee Jenn Jong.
Elsewhere, polling districts in Tampines West and east of Bedok Reservoir, currently under the WP-run Aljunied GRC, should be moved to Tampines GRC, the EBRC report said.
This would affect about 3,900 electors, of which 2,100 are from existing condominiums in the area and 1,800 from the newly completed Tampines South HDB estates.
The electoral boundaries in Aljunied were last changed in 2011, when the PAP lost the constituency to WP - the first time a GRC was captured by an opposition party.
There are no changes to the electoral boundaries in the other WP constituencies of Sengkang GRC – which will remain a four-seater – and Hougang SMC.
In the 2020 GE, WP’s slate comprising lawyer He Ting Ru, equity research analyst Louis Chua, social activist and now-former member Raeesah Khan and associate professor of economics Jamus Lim came out on top with 52.13 per cent of votes.
They defeated a PAP team consisting of labour chief Ng Chee Meng, then minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, political office holders Lam Pin Min and Amrin Amin, as well as lawyer Raymond Lye.
WP has held Hougang since 1991, when former party chief Low Thia Khiang won the single seat with an almost 12 per cent swing in votes. Former NCMP Dennis Tan then successfully defended the traditional WP stronghold in 2020, winning 61.2 per cent of the votes.
The government has accepted the EBRC’s recommendations and will implement them at the next General Election.
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