Opposition Red Dot United to contest Nee Soon GRC; People’s Power Party steps aside after talks
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People’s Power Party’s secretary-general Goh Meng Seng with Red Dot United secretary-general Ravi Philemon at a press conference in Yishun Town Centre on March 22.
ST PHOTO: NG SOR LUAN
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SINGAPORE – The opposition People’s Power Party (PPP) has said it will not contest Nee Soon GRC in the upcoming general election, after holding talks with Red Dot United (RDU), to avoid a three-cornered fight with the ruling PAP in the constituency.
This means RDU will likely face off against the PAP in Nee Soon GRC in the upcoming general election, barring the entry of another opposition party.
A press conference was held jointly by RDU and PPP on March 22 at Yishun Town Centre, where both party leaders confirmed that RDU will contest the five-member Nee Soon GRC.
Both opposition parties said they had been in discussions regarding who would contest in Nee Soon GRC since the release of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee report
PPP secretary-general Goh Meng Seng said: “I have had several conversations with Mr Ravi Philemon of RDU, and we have come to the conclusion that it is time for us to move on and let RDU have a clean fight in Nee Soon.
“We have come to the agreement we will not touch Nee Soon and allow RDU to carry on to contest in Nee Soon.”
Mr Philemon, RDU’s secretary-general, hugged Mr Goh before thanking him and the PPP for stepping aside.
“Both of us have worked the ground. Both of us know what our strengths are. And RDU, we will do our best to win Nee Soon GRC for a cause that we believe in,” he said.
He added that it is too soon to announce who the party will field in the five-man Nee Soon GRC, pointing out that there are “25 candidates who have been training with us since last year”.
Observers had initially expected a three-cornered fight in Nee Soon between the incumbent People’s Action Party, RDU and PPP, after both opposition parties declared previously that they would contest there.
Mr Philemon said talks are also ongoing with other opposition parties who have indicated an interest in contesting in the same areas.
He pointed out that there has been “a lot of speculation” that there would be multi-cornered fights.
“All this is just mere speculation. There is actually very little interest for the opposition parties to have multi-cornered fights, because in the context of Singapore, that always benefits incumbents, so conversations like what RDU has been having with PPP are ongoing with several other political parties,” he said.
The RDU party, which was founded in May 2020, had started walking the ground in Nee Soon in August 2024.
During the last general election in 2020, Nee Soon GRC was contested by the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) and PAP.
PAP’s slate, which consisted of Law and Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam, Minister of State for Home Affairs and National Development Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim, Mr Louis Ng, Mr Derrick Goh and Ms Carrie Tan, won with 61.9 per cent of the vote.
Apart from Nee Soon GRC, the RDU has also said it plans to contest in Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC, Tanjong Pagar GRC, and the Jurong Central, Jalan Kayu and Radin Mas SMCs.
Meanwhile, the PPP has said it intends to contest the Jalan Kayu and Tampines Changkat SMCs, and the Ang Mo Kio and Tampines GRCs.
While both parties have averted a potential conflict over Nee Soon GRC, they have not sorted out which party will contest Jalan Kayu.
Mr Philemon said talks on the matter will continue.
Mr Goh said the PPP is “set for Ang Mo Kio and Tampines”, and will continue negotiations on the other two SMCs.
“But today is about Nee Soon. We will settle one by one, because if you (lump) everything together, it’s very difficult to solve problems.”
