SINGAPORE - The opposition Workers' Party (WP) on Wednesday (June 24) released a video introducing 12 candidates that it is likely to field for the July 10 general election.
The video, released a day after President Halimah Yacob dissolved Parliament, included familiar faces such as outgoing Aljunied GRC MPs Sylvia Lim and Pritam Singh, who is also WP chief, as well as Non-Constituency MPs Dennis Tan and Leon Perera.
Former Punggol East MP Lee Li Lian, 41, along with two members who were part of the team that contested Nee Soon GRC in 2015 - sales consultant Cheryl Loh and Aljunied-Hougang Town Council councillor Kenneth Foo, 43 - were also featured.
The others were new faces who have not been formally unveiled but have been seen on the ground at WP events.
They include economics professor Jamus Lim, 44; social activist Raeesah Khan, 27, who is the daughter of former presidential aspirant Farid Khan; lawyer Fadli Fawzi, who is a town councillor at the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council; advertising executive Nicole Seah, 33, who was a National Solidarity Party candidate in the 2011 election; and environmental geographer Yudhishthra Nathan.
In the roughly six-minute-long video, the party members gave an overview of their outreach and ground efforts over the years, and highlighted the need for more diversity in Parliament.
Former WP chief Low Thia Khiang, who was recently discharged from the intensive care unit of Khoo Teck Puat Hospital after suffering a bad fall in April, was also featured in the video, though he did not speak.
Titled The Workers' Party GE2020: Make Your Vote Count, the latest video follows a 15-second teaser clip that the party uploaded on its social media channels on Tuesday evening. It also comes a day before WP is to begin formally introducing candidates.
The two slickly produced videos are a sign of WP's online strategy for an election where Internet campaigning is expected to play a bigger part. With GE2020 being fought against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, safe distancing rules to restrict the size of public gatherings to five people mean traditional campaign staples like mass rallies cannot be held.
Political parties also have to scale back on the scope of their walkabouts in constituencies.
Many have instead turned to cyberspace and social media to get their messages across to the electorate. Each candidate will also get airtime on national television, as part of the new constituency political broadcasts.
