Singapore – The People’s Action Party (PAP) has won in the new Marymount Single-Member Constituency (SMC) with 55.04 per cent of the vote against the opposition Progress Singapore Party (PSP).
The PAP candidate, Gan Siow Huang, 45, was the first female brigadier-general in the Singapore Armed Forces. She is currently the deputy chief executive officer of e2i.
Ms Gan went head to head against the PSP’s Ang Yong Guan, 65, who is a psychiatrist and retired army colonel. He was fielded in the Holland-Bukit Timah Group Representation Constituency (GRC) under the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) in 2011 and in Tanjong Pagar GRC with the now-dissolved SingFirst party in 2015.
During the 2015 General Election, the PAP team fielded in Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC took 73.6 per cent of the vote against a Singapore People’s Party (SPP) team. The new Marymount SMC was formed from Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC and is comprised of areas under the former Bishan North ward represented by Manpower Minister Josephine Teo, who is now with the PAP team in Jalan Besar GRC.
Marymount SMC has a total of 23,444 voters. Ms Gan took 12,143 of the valid votes cast, while Dr Ang got 9,918 votes. A total of 1,078 residents did not vote and another 305 votes were rejected.
During the campaign, Ms Gan noted that, although the constituency was relatively new, many residents considered the area as home for a long time. “PAP MPs have been serving you, walking with you (on) the journey right from the start,” said Ms Gan in a channelnewsasia.com report. “We have built one of the best and most beautiful towns in Singapore. We have forged strong community bonds over the years,” she added.
Members of the online community congratulated Ms Gan and Dr Ang for a good fight.
Some cheekily commented that her military background would whip Marymount residents into shape.
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