SDP's Chee Soon Juan to contest Bukit Batok SMC in upcoming General Election: Report
Screengrab from a Facebook video showing the Singapore Democratic Party's secretary-general Chee Soon Juan on a walkabout in Bukit Batok on Jun 21, 2020. (Image: Facebook / Chee Soon Juan)
SINGAPORE: The Singapore Democratic Party's (SDP) secretary-general Dr Chee Soon Juan said on Sunday (Jun 21) that he would be contesting the Bukit Batok Single Member Constituency (SMC) seat in the upcoming General Election.
Dr Chee confirmed this with TODAY during a walkabout at Bukit Batok West Shopping Centre, the news outlet reported.
"Confirm, double confirm," TODAY reported him as saying, when asked if he would be contesting in Bukit Batok.
In a Facebook live captioned "Bukit Batok walkabout", Dr Chee could be seen handing out flyers with several other people, who wore T-shirts with the words "Chee Soon Juan Bukit Batok".
"Like it or not, over the next three weeks Bukit Batok, you're going to be seeing this face smiling at you," said Dr Chee as he addressed his Facebook audience.
He also talked about the SDP's "Four Yes, One No" campaign, which the party has said is aimed at addressing the immediate and longer-term concerns of Singaporeans.
READ: SDP spells out vision for 'post-COVID-19 era', campaign focus for General Election
Last August, the SDP said it planned to field candidates for two Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) – Holland-Bukit Timah and Marsiling-Yew Tee – and the single-seat wards of Bukit Batok, Yuhua and Bukit Panjang.
Singapore's next General Election must be held by April 2021. A Bill to allow special arrangements for a General Election held during the COVID-19 outbreak was introduced in Parliament earlier this month.
Several political parties were undertaking outreach activities on Saturday amid growing speculation that the next General Election is imminent.
SDP Chairman Paul Tambyah and member Benjamin Pwee were giving out flags and flyers at Ghim Moh Road hawker centre and nearby coffee shops, and were heard telling people that “elections are coming”.
Dr Chee contested Bukit Batok SMC in the 2016 by-election, where he lost to the People's Action Party's Mr Murali Pillai, who won 61.21 per cent of the vote.
