Singapore GE: 5 major electoral boundary changes, from new Sengkang GRC to 4 new SMCs

A man casts his vote at Cantonment Primary School, on Sept 11, 2015. PHOTO: ST FILE
A voter at a polling centre in Pei Chun Public School in Toa Payoh Lorong 7 on Sept 11, 2015. PHOTO: ST FILE

SINGAPORE - The removal of six-member group representation constituencies (GRCs) and the creation of a new Sengkang GRC are among the changes seen in the new report on electoral boundaries. East Coast and West Coast GRCs have also been bumped up from having four members to five.

At the same time, four new single-member constituencies (SMCs) - Kebun Baru, Marymount, Punggol West and Yio Chu Kang - have been created. However, Fengshan, Punggol East and Sengkang West have been removed.

1. New Sengkang GRC

The north-east of Singapore gets a new GRC, which takes in what used to be Punggol East SMC, as well as parts of what used to be Sengkang West SMC and Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

Major changes in the area were widely expected, with population numbers surging there and some MPs serving more voters than the suggested limit.

2. Four new SMCs

Four new SMCs were created in Kebun Baru, Marymount, Punggol West and Yio Chu Kang, bringing the total number of SMCs to 14.

All four were carved out of existing GRCs, with Kebun Baru coming from Nee Soon GRC, Marymount from Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, Punggol West from Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, and Yio Chu Kang from Ang Mo Kio GRC.

3. Three SMCs gone

Fengshan, Punggol East, Sengkang West SMCs have been absorbed into GRCs and will be wiped off the electoral map.

Parts of the latter two were taken into the new Sengkang GRC, while Fengshan has been absorbed into East Coast GRC.

4. Bye-bye six-member GRCs

The only two six-member GRCs, Pasir Ris-Punggol and Ang Mo Kio, have both been downsized to five-member GRCs, helping to bring down the average number of MPs per GRC to 4.65 from 4.75.

These mammoth constituencies first appeared in 1996. At its peak, there were five such GRCs on the electoral map.

5. Five MPs for East Coast and West Coast

East Coast and West Coast, widely expected by observers to be hot battlegrounds in the coming election, got an additional MP each. Both were four-member GRCs before.

Voter numbers for East Coast will go up to 120,239, up from 99,015. For West Coast, the number of voters will go up to 144,516, up from 99,236.

6. More voters and more MPs

The number of electors went up by 134,256 to 2,594,740 as of April 15, 2019. Based on the current number of 89 elected MPs, this works out to an average ratio of one MP to about 29,200 electors.

But the number of MPs will go up from 89 to 93 at the next general election, with 14 SMCs and 17 GRCs.

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