PAP to introduce its candidates for most constituencies by Sunday

SINGAPORE — The People’s Action Party will present its slate of candidates for all but a few of the 29 constituencies for the coming General Election (GE) by Sunday. PAP organising secretary Ng Eng Hen said in a press statement today (Aug 17) that the announcements for a few Group Representation Constituencies would be made after the National Day Rally on Sunday.

Dr Ng had reportedly told Lianhe Zaobao yesterday that the line-ups for three constituencies, including the Opposition-held Aljunied GRC, would be announced after the rally. This means the PAP candidates for eight SMCs and six GRCs could be unveiled this week. 

So far, the ruling party’s candidates for 12 constituencies — seven GRCs and five Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) — have been announced.

In the statement, Dr Ng said there will be a “slight pause, appropriate after (Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s) speech at the National Day Rally, after which the PAP will present the remaining slate of candidates in that week, for the coming GE”.

The format of introducing candidates at a “steady pace” soon after National Day, to allow residents to “digest the announcements”, has proceeded well so far, he said. “It has achieved our purpose of providing more information to residents to make an informed choice of which candidates can take better care of their interests over the next five years.”

The PAP kicked off its candidate announcements with Dr Ng’s Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC last Wednesday. 

Meanwhile, 3,104 electors have registered to vote overseas, Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said in a written parliamentary reply to Non-Constituency Member of Parliament Lina Chiam today. They make up 0.1 per cent of the total number of electors. In the 2011 elections, nearly eight in 10 registered overseas electors cast their vote at polling stations overseas.