SINGAPORE: At The Workers’ Party’s (WP) first doorstop interview for this year’s General Election, Secretary-General Pritam Singh directly addressed one of the most notable developments on Nomination, Day: the WP’s decision not to contest the newly formed Marine Parade-Bradell Heights GRC. This effectively gave the People’s Action Party (PAP) its first uncontested victory, its first walkover, since 2011.
The WP team that had worked on the ground in the area would instead contest in Punggol.
Mr Singh, who explained in a post why the WP wasn’t contesting the constituency, addressed the residents of Marine Parade-Bradell Heights directly, assuring them that it did not mean the opposition party had left them high and dry.
“I seek the understanding and forbearance in Marine Parade-Bradell Heights,” he said. “It doesn’t mean we’re gone. We’ll continue our work there after the General Elections, but I hope you understand we’re a small political party. We try and put the best foot forward when we have to fight in an election campaign, and this is the strategy that we have taken for these elections, given what has happened with the boundary redrawing and other calculations that the Workers’ Party certainly has to take into account.”
He later reiterated that he sought understanding from residents regarding the matter, but underlined that the WP “has to move forward in this campaign.”
The WP’s choice not to stand at Marine Parade-Bradell Heights, which is explained at length here, had been made “with a heavy heart,” Mr Singh explained, calling it “a very difficult decision for us.”
The Workers’ Party was active in the area before 2015, and first contested Marine Parade GRC in 2015 when it lost to the PAP. In GE 2011, WP candidate Yee Jenn Jong lost at Joo Chiat SMC by only 388 votes. In the next election cycle, Joo Chiat was incorporated into Marine Parade GRC.
This year, however, Joo Chiat was taken out of Marine Parade GRC and put into East Coast GRC, while MacPherson SMC and other estates were included in the newly formed Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.
The WP is fielding a team at East Coast GRC headed by Mr Yee.
While many online have said they understood the WP’s decision not to contest at Marine Parade-Braddell Heights, it did not go over as well in some quarters.
Former WP member Goh Meng Seng, the head of the People’s Power Party (PPP), called it “purely irresponsible”.
“If they had made known they were going to abandon Marine Parade, we would have been game enough to say … We will move on to pick it up,” he added.
Others, however, have argued that the blame should be laid on this year’s “radical redrawing of boundaries”.
“We have no doubt that but for gerrymandering, WP’s Marine Blue would have entered the arena and fought valiantly. If there was a walkover in a constituency where the Big 3 didn’t contest, it wouldn’t hurt as much. It hurts because we know the quality and calibre that the WP can offer voters,” a netizen countered.
“We know the odds are often stacked against the opposition! It has never been a level playing field. But with faith, sincerity, and hard work, you’ve proven time and again that you’re a trusted opposition party,” another wrote.
“Concentrate on the deployment of the limited resources. Wise move… Slowly expand outwards. I believe voters have eyes to see,” a Facebook user wrote. /TISG
Read also: After 10 years, PAP wins a seat by walkover as WP declines to pursue Marine Parade