GE2025: Ang Mo Kio GRC to see three-cornered fight for the first time

Follow our live coverage here.

SINGAPORE - The general election is happening at a difficult time, with many problems ahead that will affect Singaporeans’ lives, jobs, families and future, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in a speech at the Deyi Secondary School nomination centre on April 23.

“Vote for the team you can trust so that we can work with you to keep Singapore safe, to move it forward and to secure a brighter future for all of us,” added SM Lee, who was flanked by his PAP team members contesting in Ang Mo Kio GRC.

PAP newcomer Jasmin Lau, 42, and Mr Victor Lye, 63 – who was part of the losing PAP teams in Aljunied GRC in the last two elections – also gave brief speeches.

The team also includes incumbent Ang Mo Kio GRC MPs Darryl David, 54, and Nadia Ahmad Samdin, 35.

The largest of the 18 group representation constituencies with 161,499 electors, Ang Mo Kio GRC will be contested by three parties for the first time since it was created in 1991.

The incumbent PAP team led by SM Lee, 73, is going up against the Singapore United Party (SUP) and the People’s Power Party (PPP).

For the SUP, its Ang Mo Kio slate includes the party’s secretary-general Andy Zhu, 42, and Ms Noraini Yunus, 56, who both contested in the GRC under the Reform Party (RP) banner in the 2020 General Election.

The other members are party chairman Ridhuan Chandran, 53, flight attendant Nigel Ng, 39, and Dr Vincent Ng, 52, who was part of the National Solidarity Party team that stood in Tampines GRC in 2020.

In a speech after the announcement of candidates, Mr Zhu said: “We are dedicated to building a more just and equitable Singapore. We will do this together with the ruling party.”

The PPP, which is led by veteran opposition politician Goh Meng Seng – who is helming the party’s Tampines GRC team – will contest in Ang Mo Kio for the first time.

Its line-up in the constituency comprises party treasurer William Lim, 47; retired civil servant Martinn Ho, 64; safety coordinator Thaddeus Thomas, 43; information technology engineer Samuel Lee, 33; and horticulturist Heng Zheng Dao, 24.

Asked why the party decided to run in the GRC, Mr Lim said: “We want to ask the residents of Ang Mo Kio what has Mr Lee Hsien Loong done in the past 20 years. That is why we are here, no matter whether the other opposition parties are coming.”

Traditionally a stronghold for the PAP, Ang Mo Kio GRC was uncontested until 2006, when the PAP defeated a Workers’ Party team.

In the last three general elections, the PAP won by comfortable margins against the RP.

In the last contest in 2020, the PAP team won with 71.91 per cent of the valid votes against the RP’s 28.09 per cent.

SM Lee, who

stepped down in May 2024

after 20 years as prime minister, has represented the Teck Ghee ward in the GRC for 41 years, having been first elected to Parliament in 1984.

At the Deyi Secondary School nomination centre, supporters braved the rain to cheer on their candidates. Some PAP and WP supporters even took refuge from the rain under the party banners that they had brought with them.

Among the PAP supporters seen at the school were SM Lee’s wife, Madam Ho Ching, former Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Ang Hin Kee, as well as Ms K. Thanaletchimi, president of the National Trades Union Congress.

The parents of PAP candidate Lau, a former senior civil servant, were outside the school in the morning to cheer their daughter on. Mr Lau Kwok Cheong, 75, said he wanted to tell his daughter: “Jasmin, your mother and I are here to support you and wish you all the best.”

Ms Lau was greeted with a hug by her mother, Ms Lim Swee Eng, 69, when she arrived at the school with the other PAP candidates later.

WP member and former MP Png Eng Huat was spotted among the supporters at Deyi Secondary School. The 63-year-old businessman, who stepped down as MP for Hougang SMC before the 2020 General Election, said it was “a refreshing change to be among the supporters this time”.