SINGAPORE: With the next General Election needing to be held by November, there has been considerable buzz about who political parties will field as candidates. And because some individuals proved problematic both before and after the last GE was held, parties are expected to exercise quite a bit more vetting before publicizing possible candidates.
Nevertheless, some appear to be past the vetting stage and are now seen as consistent fixtures in on-the-ground activities, so the public may reasonably expect to see their names and faces when the election period is announced.
The Workers’ Party
In January, when Pritam Singh announced that the WP engaged commercial parties for candidate screening, it made the news. However, there are at least three people who seem to be shoo-ins to contest in the upcoming GE, one of whom is very high profile indeed.
Starting from late 2023, Senior Counsel Harpreet Singh Nehal began to be seen among WP members at their activities in Marine Parade and was even included among the #WP #Lawyers in a picture posted by party chair Sylvia Lim in April 2024.
Another possible candidate is Jeraldine Phneah, a financial blogger who’s been active with the WP for the past 10 years at Jalan Besar and East Coast.
In 2020, she called on netizens to be more compassionate to low-wage earners after seeing comments online trivialising the circumstances these workers face amid the national discussion on a minimum wage.
The third possible WP candidate is Ang Boon Yaw, who has been part of the CEC since 2022. The lawyer is one of the WP’s deputy organising secretaries.
Progress Singapore Party
In the past few months, a number of new faces stood out among the social media posts of the Progress Singapore Party, including Stella Stan Lee and Lawrence Pek, who were in a video with PSP founder and former PAP MP Tan Cheng Bock, as well as NCMPs Hazel Poa and Leong Mun Wai.
More recently, Sani Ismail was part of a party activity at Keat Hong Food Centre & Market on Jan 12, CNIA reported. Over social media, he’s been spotted on the party’s Facebook accounts for Chua Chu Kang and Hong Kah North.
People’s Action Party
Finally, there’s the ruling PAP, which is likely to have the deepest bench among all the parties. While Marcus Loh was once among the new faces, he recently stepped down at Sengkang East to focus on “keeping well” for his family, and he has since been replaced by Bernadette Giam, who has been a community volunteer for over a decade.
Another new face for PAP is Deryne Sim, who’s been spotted at with Nee Soon residents recently. Interestingly, Ms Sim, an intellectual property lawyer, was a committee member for LGBTQ group Pink Dot SG and is also the executive director of Same But Different, which provides legal support to the community. /TISG