GE2025: Labour unionist Patrick Tay to defend his Pioneer seat for the PAP

SINGAPORE: Labour unionist Patrick Tay will once again represent the People’s Action Party (PAP) in the Pioneer single-seat ward for the next General Election.

Mr Tay, who is the assistant secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), is the incumbent MP for the ward.

“I hope to support our residents, to journey with you together in the next five years,” said Mr Tay on Tuesday (Apr 15) at the PAP’s West Coast branch office, where his candidacy was announced. 

He thanked Pioneer residents for their "love, support (and) encouragement" over the past five years and said that community volunteers had rolled out programmes in the constituency to address needs in healthcare, education and employment.

Its infrastructure and living environment have also been upgraded, he said.

Pioneer SMC is one of nine constituencies that remained unchanged in the latest review of Singapore's electoral map. Geographically, the ward is located within the area now surrounded by the newly renamed West Coast-Jurong West GRC.

As of 2025, the ward has 25,166 registered voters.

In the 2020 General Election, Mr Tay won 62 per cent of the vote in a three-cornered contest – one of only two such races that year. He faced off against independent candidate Cheang Peng Wah and the Progress Singapore Party’s (PSP) Lim Cher Hong.

The PSP has confirmed it will again field a candidate in Pioneer SMC for GE2025, though the party has not yet announced who will contest.

Mr Tay said he is aware of the PSP's activities in the constituency, but said the PAP team there has engaged residents actively.

"In the very first year, in 2020, we ... visited almost every household," he said.

Many residents became community volunteers and have helped to improve Pioneer, Mr Tay added. 

"I hope for the support to be able to continue to do that and to build on what we've done in the last couple of years and see through some of (our) projects and programmes."