GE2015: Recount underway for Aljunied GRC, margin less than 2 per cent

The counting process, including sample counting, at the Bedok Town Secondary School for Aljunied GRC on Sept 11, 2015. ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN

SINGAPORE - A recount is currently underway for Aljunied GRC following a request from People's Action Party (PAP) candidates.

The Elections Department said in a statement: "A recount of the votes may be allowed if the difference between the number of votes cast in favour of the candidate/group of candidates with the most votes and the number of votes cast in favour of any other candidate is equal to or less than 2 per cent of the total number of valid votes cast.

"The difference in the number of votes cast for the two groups of candidates from the People's Action Party and The Workers' Party in the electoral division of Aljunied is less than 2 per cent. The PAP candidates have applied for a recount and the Returning Officer has allowed it."

The GRC has 148,142 voters.

The PAP's team of Mr Yeo Guat Kwang, Mr Chua Eng Leong, Mr K. Muralidharan Pillai, Mr Shamsul Kamar and Mr Victor Lye is attempting to wrest the five-member ward back from WP's Mr Low Thia Khiang, Mr Chen Show Mao, Mr Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap, Mr Pritam Singh and Ms Sylvia Lim.

The WP team won Aljunied during the 2011 General Election with 54.72 per cent of the vote. It was the first time an opposition party had claimed a GRC, and the PAP lost two Cabinet ministers including then-Foreign Affairs Minister George Yeo.

Under Singapore's election laws, only one application for a recount can be made.

In the 2011 General Election, a recount was held for Potong Pasir SMC. The PAP's Mr Sitoh Yih Pin beat the Singapore People's Party's Mrs Lina Chiam to win the seat with just 114 votes, or a mere 0.7 percentage point.

There was another close call in Nee Soon Central SMC in 1991, when the Singapore Democratic Party's Mr Cheo Chai Chen won with a 0.6 point margin. A recount confirmed that just 168 votes separated him from PAP incumbent Ng Pock Too.

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