GE2025: PAP retains Holland-Bukit Timah with 79.29% of votes against new opponent RDU
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The PAP's Holland-Bukit Timah GRC candidates (from left) Christoper de Souza, Edward Chia, Vivian Balakrishnan and Sim Ann at Bukit Gombak Stadium on May 3.
ST PHOTO: SHINTARO TAY
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SINGAPORE - The PAP team in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC defended its seats with 79.29 per cent of the votes against new challenger Red Dot United (RDU).
This is up from 66.36 per cent in the 2020 election, when the same team led by Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, 64, contended with a slate from the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).
It is also historically the best performance for the four-member group representation constituency, apart from a walkover in 2006 when the GRC was created. The PAP won 60.08 per cent and 66.6 per cent of all valid votes in 2011 and 2015, respectively.
Dr Balakrishnan’s team includes Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and National Development Sim Ann, 50, lawyer Christopher de Souza, 49, and businessman Edward Chia, 41.
Addressing supporters at Bukit Gombak Stadium after the official results were announced, Dr Balakrishnan said they were “deeply humbled to have this strong mandate”.
“We view this victory as an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to all our residents,” said the minister.
Speaking to The Straits Times, Dr Balakrishnan noted that the election had taken place at a time when the world is in a state of uncertainty and flux, and voters had expressed that concern at the ballot box.
“It is a reminder for all of us that when times get tough, you need a tried and tested team, where we will do our best to secure a brighter future for the next generation,” he said.
Mr de Souza, who will start his fifth term as an MP, said his team did not take the results lightly.
“It actually is a level of trust and encouragement that requires us to honour it deeply with intense, hard work on the ground and nationally,” he said, adding that they would work “even harder” for residents.
Their RDU opponents
Apart from Mr Fazli, who contested the 2011 election in East Coast GRC as a WP candidate, the other three are political newcomers.
After the loss, RDU’s secretary-general Ravi Philemon told the media: “We must accept the will, and the voice and the decision of the people.”
Speaking at its headquarters in Ubi, he said that the key message the party took home is that “there is a place for Red Dot United in the politics of Singapore”.
“We are a fairly new political party, just five years old... Going forward as a party, I believe we have plans to grow,” said Mr Philemon of RDU, which was formed in 2020 and had fielded the second-largest number of candidates this election among the opposition.
The incumbent team’s pitch was its track record and five-year plan for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC
The RDU candidates tackled issues of inequality and promoted their party’s key proposals, including scaling back the goods and services tax (GST) from 9 per cent to 7 per cent, and a “Citizens Dividend” – an “unconditional cash transfer” given to all Singaporeans.
Compared with the hotly contested races in the east, both sides conducted a relatively quieter campaign to win the hearts of the GRC’s 123,225 voters over nine days of hustings.
The PAP team went from door to door and conducted walkabouts at the Ghim Moh Market and Food Centre and Senja Hawker Centre, while RDU mainly engaged residents at locations with high footfall such as LRT stations, coffee shops and hawker centres.
Things went up a notch on April 29, when the RDU team launched salvos at its PAP opponents
Mr Sharad also took issue with Dr Balakrishnan over his Facebook account allegedly “liking” a post offering to relocate Singaporeans to Gaza.
Dr Balakrishnan earlier said that he did not “like” the post
The incumbent team maintained a relatively low profile throughout the hustings and did not hold rallies.
Only Mr Chia gave his maiden rally speech – he joined politics in 2020 when Covid-19 prohibited such gatherings – at a rally for Bukit Panjang SMC candidate
Dr Balakrishnan also attended the rally in support of Mr Liang, whose constituency was touted as a hot seat in a contest against SDP chairman Paul Tambyah.
In his speech, Mr Chia said it would be difficult to execute planned upgrades with two separate town councils, as Holland-Bukit Timah GRC and Bukit Panjang SMC are currently managed together under one town council.
The line-up for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC was only one of two PAP GRC slates across the island that remained unchanged, with the other being Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s team in Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC.
Dr Balakrishnan said on April 15 that this was because his team still has the right blend of experience.
Before hustings officially started, Holland-Bukit Timah GRC generated some buzz when the SDP, which has contested in the area for the past three elections, decided not to enter the fray in a bid to consolidate resources
RDU quickly announced its campaign there, with Mr Philemon noting it was an “important piece of the puzzle” that connects Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC to Nee Soon GRC – two other constituencies the party contested.
Mr Philemon had acknowledged there was a real challenge in its campaign as he called Dr Balakrishnan “entrenched” in the GRC and said his party was unfamiliar with the area.
Mr Philemon promised that his team would continue engaging residents regardless of the election results.
