GE2020: PM Lee’s team wins Ang Mo Kio GRC with 71.91% of votes
PAP secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong, Darryl David, Ng Ling Ling, Gan Thiam Poh and Nadia Samdin, won in Ang Mo Kio GRC in the General Election 2020. (Photo: People's Action Party)
SINGAPORE: The People’s Action Party (PAP) team led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has won Ang Mo Kio GRC with 71.91 per cent of votes cast.
Their opponents from the Reform Party (RP) got 28.09 per cent of the vote. The PAP team's vote share was lower than the 78.64 per cent it garnered against the RP in the 2015 General Election.
The PAP fielded two new faces in Ang Mo Kio – Ms Ng Ling Ling and Ms Nadia Samdin – with former Members of Parliament Darryl David and Gan Thiam Poh rounding up the team.
The RP team comprised secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam, chairman Andy Zhu, Mr Charles Yeo, Madam Noraini Yunus and Mr Soh Guan Soon.
Speaking in a Facebook Live session after the results were announced, Mr Lee thanked all residents and voters for their support.
“We are very conscious of the heavy responsibility you have given us,” he said. “We are very grateful for your trust and confidence, and we will do our best to serve you for the next five years.”
He also thanked party activists and volunteers, noting that they had “helped us fight this campaign” and look after residents; as well as "enable us to build in Ang Mo Kio a community and network which serves you, which advances your interests, and which will work with you to make Ang Mo Kio a better place, a better town to live, work and play,” he said.
Speaking earlier in the evening after the sample count results were released, Mr Jeyaretnam described it as a “respectable result”, and said the team was “pretty pleased with it, given all the obstacles we’ve faced”.
“Ang Mo Kio is the biggest GRC on the island, it is extremely difficult to cover,” he said.
“But we’ve proven that the Reform Party is a party of substance,” he added, stressing that regardless of the results, they were “here for the long haul” and would continue to walk the ground.
Ang Mo Kio was reduced from a six- to five-member GRC this election, after the single seat of Yio Chu Kang was carved out. The GRC also absorbed part of Sengkang West SMC.
A PAP win in Ang Mo Kio was widely expected. Mr Lee, who is the PAP secretary-general, has been MP of the constituency since its formation in 1991.
During the hustings, the PAP stressed that jobs were its top priority. Candidates had also talked about the various programmes launched in Ang Mo Kio over the years to improve homes and the surroundings in the mature estate.
In the RP's campaign, Mr Yeo said that voters deserved full-time MPs. The team also talked about tackling the cost of living and employment issues. Mr Jeyaretnam was absent on the ground during campaigning, as he was serving a 14-day stay-home notice after returning from the United Kingdom.
Home to 185,465 voters, Ang Mo Kio GRC saw walkovers for three elections after its formation in 1991. It was contested in 2006 by the Workers’ Party. In 2011, it was also contested by RP.
