Singapore GE: NSP to contest same GRCs and single wards as in 2015

National Solidarity Party secretary-general Spencer Ng (centre), meeting the media in Tampines yesterday. He said his party will contest Tampines GRC, Sembawang GRC as well as Pioneer and MacPherson SMCs.
National Solidarity Party secretary-general Spencer Ng (centre), meeting the media in Tampines yesterday. He said his party will contest Tampines GRC, Sembawang GRC as well as Pioneer and MacPherson SMCs. ST PHOTO: KELVIN CHNG

The National Solidarity Party (NSP) intends to contest Tampines GRC, Sembawang GRC as well as Pioneer and MacPherson single-member constituencies (SMCs) at the general election.

NSP secretary-general Spencer Ng yesterday said his party will contest the same constituencies that it did in the 2015 GE.

He will lead a team to contest in Sembawang, and party president Reno Fong will helm another team to stand in Tampines, Mr Ng told reporters during a walkabout in Tampines Street 81.

Party members distributed hand sanitisers to members of the public, including shopkeepers.

So far, about 10 party members are interested in standing for election, and NSP is still reviewing them before unveiling its slate of candidates, Mr Ng added.

The applicants include entrepreneurs and professionals from the IT and logistics sectors who are aged between the late 20s and early 50s, he said.

The NSP joins a growing number of opposition parties that have indicated where they will contest for the GE, which is expected to be held in the next few months following the release of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee's report earlier this month.

Most parties said they would run in the constituencies that they had contested in 2015.

But the entry of newly formed Progress Singapore Party (PSP), led by former People's Action Party veteran MP Tan Cheng Bock, raised the possibility of multi-cornered fights.

The PSP earlier indicated that it would contest 15 constituencies, including West Coast GRC, Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, Sembawang GRC, Pioneer SMC, Radin Mas SMC and the new Marymount SMC.

PSP members visited Radin Mas, Commonwealth, Tiong Bahru, Bishan, Toa Payoh, Holland Drive and Keat Hong, the party said in a Facebook post yesterday.

The NSP, Reform Party (RP) and Singapore People's Party (SPP) have staked their claim on these constituencies as well.

The RP said, in a Facebook post on Saturday, that it "will continue to serve the residents by contesting in West Coast GRC, Ang Mo Kio GRC and Radin Mas SMC".

The SPP said it will field candidates in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, as well as Potong Pasir, Marymount and Mountbatten SMCs.

Party chairman Jose Raymond will be its candidate in Potong Pasir, while secretary-general Steve Chia will lead a team to contest Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC.

Singapore Democratic Alliance chairman Desmond Lim Bak Chuan told The Straits Times the party will be contesting Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC. The party has contested there since 2006 and has been working the ground since, he added.

"We will continue to contest in Pasir Ris Punggol GRC... We suggest (for opposition parties) to go elsewhere. Don't duplicate our actions and waste resources."

NSP's Mr Ng said his party is set to meet PSP today for talks, adding that while multi-cornered fights risk duplicating resources, they are a sign of democracy at work.

"It's kind of messy, but that's democracy," he said.

His party could see a three-way fight in Tampines GRC as well, as the Workers' Party (WP) has been seen walking the ground there.

The WP has yet to announce the wards it will be contesting.

SingFirst secretary-general Tan Jee Say said his party is discussing where to contest. SingFirst contested Jurong GRC and Tanjong Pagar GRC in the 2015 GE.

The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) held a meeting on Saturday to discuss its election plans.

DPP's current secretary-general Hamim Aliyas quit the party to contest Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC under the SPP banner in 2015. He returned to the DPP afterwards.

People's Power Party secretary-general Goh Meng Seng said he had no comments when asked where his party planned to contest. The party contested Chua Chu Kang GRC for the last general election.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on March 23, 2020, with the headline Singapore GE: NSP to contest same GRCs and single wards as in 2015. Subscribe