[SINGAPORE] Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) secretary-general Chee Soon Juan has announced his bid to contest the newly created Sembawang West Single Member Constituency (SMC) in the upcoming general election (GE).
SDP will also be fielding a team at Sembawang Group Representation Constituency (GRC), while party chairman Paul Tambyah will contest Bukit Panjang SMC for a second time, Dr Chee told reporters in a media doorstop on Sunday (Mar 23) after a walkabout in Sembawang West.
Earlier in February, Dr Chee announced his intention to run in Bukit Batok SMC, which he had lost to the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Murali Pillai in GE2020. He received 45.2 per cent of votes, an improved showing from the 38.8 per cent he got at the 2016 by-election.
Bukit Batok SMC has since been absorbed into the new Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC following the release of the latest report by the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) on Mar 11.
Dr Chee thanked the residents of Bukit Batok for letting him into the community over the past 10 years and emphasised that he would not be abandoning them, even as he intends to run in the new Sembawang West SMC.
For GE2025, the SDP will be embarking on a “Northern strategy” and returning to old stomping grounds, said Dr Chee. The opposition party had previously contested Sembawang GRC in 2006 and 2011.
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The party will announce its candidates for Sembawang GRC “in due course” and will share updates on the other constituencies it plans to contest in the next two weeks, he added.
Prof Tambyah, who was also present at the media doorstop, said it was “no secret” that SDP has been walking the grounds of Sembawang since 2022.
He added that Dr Chee’s bid for the new Sembawang West SMC – which was carved out from the current Sembawang GRC – was an “opportunity” for the party to recover from the removal of Bukit Batok SMC from the electoral map.
As for Bukit Panjang, Prof Tambyah said he has covered 135 of the 150 blocks in the district and has been engaging with residents.
He lost his previous contest for Bukit Panjang SMC to PAP opponent Liang Eng Hwa, with 46.3 per cent of the votes. He was SDP’s best performer overall in the last GE.
“(Our work for) Bukit Panjang will continue, and we are definitely looking forward to a good contest both in Sembwang GRC, and especially in Sembawang West SMC,” said Prof Tambyah.
Besides Bukit Batok and Bukit Panjang SMCs, SDP had contested and lost in three other constituencies in GE2020: Yuhua SMC, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, and Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC.
The upcoming GE sees extensive boundary changes in Singapore, with only five GRCs and four SMCs remaining unchanged in the latest EBRC report.
The new electoral map consists of 33 electoral divisions, up from 31 in the last GE. There are now a total of 18 GRCs and 15 SMCs, up from the existing 17 GRCs and 14 SMCs.
