Singapore - Shortly after voting for the Sept 11 polls closed, Workers' Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang told The Straits Times he believes the opposition party will be able to retain its Aljunied GRC along with the Punggol East and Hougang single-seat wards.
He also believes the party has "substantial support" in the Fengshan Single-Member Constituency and the East Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC), both held by the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) and touted to see the hottest contest with the WP.
Mr Low was speaking in an interview around 9.15pm outside the Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC) branch along Hougang Avenue 1, shortly after voting closed at 8pm and after he visited a counting station at Montfort school in Hougang for the Aljunied GRC.
"It's still early. We don't know the results but I believe we're able to retain Aljunied GRC. I'm not able to tell at this point about the vote share because we're still in initial stage of vote counting. But I expect not much of changes in terms of vote share," he said.
Asked if it matters whether the WP could gain on its 54.71 per cent win at the 2011 polls, Mr Low said what's important is "that voters of Aljunied want us to continue to serve them".
"And we will continue to do so to the best of our ability. And we certainly hope to do better in serving them. Result is something else but we want to do better in serving the residents of Aljunied GRC," he added.
He believes that a win in Aljunied - first GRC lost to an opposition party - will show that voters trust the WP in spite of an ongoing dispute between the party and the government over financial lapses discovered at the town council.
"I think people do trust us. They know we are not what as described by the PAP over the AHPETC saga," said Mr Low.
"We are people of integrity. We've done the best that we could to serve the residents. Again, we could have done better and we would like to do better. But we have done our best nevertheless given the circumstances that we were in."
He said a victory would also show that despite the AHPETC financial accounting issue, the WP has "done okay" in terms of maintenance and other aspects of town management compared to the PAP town council.
A win in Aljunied, he added, would show that Singaporeans understand "a need for the WP to continue the journey of the last election towards a First World Parliament to entrench the opposition and more voices in Parliament, in order that there's a certain level of balance, a certain check and balance in Parliament to safeguard the interests of Singaporeans moving forward".
The First World Parliament was the party's election slogan at the 2011 polls.
Asked about the WP's chances in other constituencies especially hot wards like the Fengshan and East Coast GRCs, Mr Low said he wasn't able to tell exactly what will happen but he believes "we have substantial support there".
"At this point out time, I won't be able to tell you if the support will keep in our favour eventually. But I certainly feel that we have strong support in east coast and Fengshan."
He also said the WP has support in the Marine Parade GRC too, and he would like to believe the party is all right in the Punggol East and Hougang wards.
