[SINGAPORE] With renewal being a key priority, the People’s Action Party (PAP) will field more than 30 new candidates in the upcoming general election (GE), said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Saturday (Apr 12).
This is the largest slate of new faces in recent history, and will include the core of the next generation leadership, he told reporters at the PAP Limbang branch in Choa Chu Kang that afternoon.
“Why make these changes now? Because each time I fail to do so, it’s another five years and then you bring in people later,” said PM Wong.
“It will make it harder, it will be slower to refresh and renew the team, and I think Singaporeans themselves are concerned about this.”
With the upcoming GE to be held in a time of great global uncertainty and turbulence, “who you have in the cockpit matters”, he added. “Singaporeans will have to decide on the team they trust to navigate the storm and chart the way forward for our nation.”
The PAP’s manifesto and election messages will have to address voters’ concerns about global uncertainty, said PM Wong. These include the possibility of a recession, the impact on jobs and the unravelling of the global system.
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In past crises such as Covid-19, the rules-based global order was intact, allowing Singapore to “bounce back quickly”, he noted. “I can’t say the same this time.”
In the wake of US tariffs, it is unclear how the global system will evolve “and whether or not that same stability and certainty that allowed us to bounce back quickly will exist”, he added.
No target vote share in fierce contest
PM Wong also confirmed that the team for Marsiling Yew-Tee Group Representation Constituency (GRC), which he helms, will be unchanged for GE 2025.
Asked if the GRC’s showing might be read as a barometer of his popularity as PM, he said that while people may “read into all sorts of things in the election outcome”, what ultimately matters is the “final mandate” from Singaporeans.
“We have to make the best case possible from the PAP’s side why we offer the best leadership team for our country in these difficult times,” he said.
“Where I stand really doesn’t matter. I can go elsewhere, but I’ve decided to stand here and remain here… But importantly I will lead the party into elections; I will present the case to Singaporeans.”
Asked in Mandarin if a certain vote threshold for the PAP would demonstrate voters’ “solidarity”, PM Wong replied that he has no “target vote share in mind” for what he expects to be a hotly-contested election.
“Even in my own GRC… I don’t take the contest lightly, I assume it’s going to be a fierce contest.”
The party will do its best to present its report card on the last five years and highlight future plans, including the Forward Singapore agenda, he said.
Familiar face-off
The four-member GRC comprises PM Wong in Limbang division, Senior Minister of State for Defence and Manpower Zaqy Mohamad in Marsiling, North West District Mayor Alex Yam in Yew Tee and lawyer Hany Soh in Woodgrove.
They will likely be up against the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), which said on Mar 30 that it intends to contest there. The party also plans to contest adjacent Sembawang GRC and the new Sembawang West single-member constituency (SMC), as part of a “Northern strategy”.
In GE 2020, PM Wong’s team defeated the SDP in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC with 63.18 per cent of valid votes. The SDP also contested the territory in 2015, when the GRC was newly formed. That year’s PAP team, jointly headed by Halimah Yacob and PM Wong, garnered 68.73 per cent of valid votes.
The upcoming GE is PM Wong’s first electoral outing since taking the helm in May 2024, and is likely to be viewed as a report card on the ruling party’s fourth generation leadership.
The election will feature a total of 18 GRCs and 15 SMCs, both one more than before. The number of Parliament seats will increase to 97, up from 93.
On Apr 5, PM Wong and his team launched the Marsiling-Yew Tee Town Council’s masterplan for 2025 to 2030, which features new community clubs, parks and an 18 km cycling path.
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