PAP will reveal line-up for all wards before Nomination Day
Defence Minister Dr Ng Eng Hen (right) serving local delicacies to SingHealth nurses today (July 30) as part of Nurses' Day celebrations. Photo: Ernest Chua/TODAY
SINGAPORE — Barring last-minute changes, the People’s Action Party (PAP) will show its hand “well before” Nomination Day, PAP organising secretary Ng Eng Hen revealed today (July 30).
The PAP’s line-up of candidates across the 29 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) would be all but revealed prior to the day when candidates officially confirm their candidacy for the General Election (GE), he said.
“This (GE), we will actually tell you our line-up even before Nomination Day,” said the Defence Minister, who was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the SingHealth Nurses’ Day celebrations. “We will present the candidates early, there always will be last minute changes because all elections are like that, but I think for the overwhelming majority of GRCs and SMCs, Singaporeans will get to know who the candidate is well before Nomination Day.”
Traditionally, PAP would introduce its new candidates before Nomination Day, in several batches, but without indicating where the candidates will contest. On Sunday, Dr Ng said the party will formally unveil its slate of candidates after National Day. He added that under a new format, where possible, the new candidates will be introduced by retiring Members of Parliament (MPs) who they will take over from.
Today, Dr Ng went a step further in revealing that PAP’s exact line-up for all the constituencies would more or less be known before Nomination Day.
The party has said that it is deploying new faces in their constituencies early so that voters have time to assess for themselves the calibre of candidates.
Dr Ng said: “The first priority is can this candidate take care of my town, can you make sure my homes, the environment is well taken care of, that my flats are painted, that the lifts have enough money to be replaced, that my town council funds are adequate? Because if you don’t have that then it’s even hard to talk about other things.”
Political analysts said the PAP’s new strategy underscored its confidence in the quality of its new candidates, even though it would give the opposition parties a chance to adjust their plans accordingly.
Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan noted that the PAP was responding to voters’ expectations, and was seeking to change the perception that its candidates were “parachuted in” - a perception which the party might have concluded could have cost them some votes in the 2011 General Election (GE), he said. Still, he felt that the PAP may have one or two trump cards up its sleeve and there may be strategic switches at the eleventh hour.
Associate professor Alan Chong from the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies felt that by showing its hand early, PAP could put pressure on opposition parties to reveal their line-ups as well. “It always helps to unveil new candidates early because then residents can get to know them and size them up. It’s a show of confidence (by the PAP), and it signals to whichever opposition party that if it wants to contest, it had better consider carefully,” he said.
With at least two opposition parties declaring their interest in contesting Bishan-Toa Payoh GRC, Dr Ng, who is the constituency’s anchor minister, said he was relishing the competition. In fact, he welcomed the prospect of electoral contests all over the island, so as to keep the Republic’s “system and politics healthy and strong”. In the 2011 GE, every constitency, except Tanjong Pagar GRC, was contested.
Dr Ng said: “I think it’s very useful that every four to five years the Government... calls for elections, then allow Singaporeans to say... ‘we want you to do more of the same’, or that ‘we want certain things improved’.”
Dr Ng, who had previously called for “(fewer) personal attacks, but more serious debate” during the campaigning period, reiterated his hope that practices can be set in this coming GE to give the country “a better political atmosphere”. “I can’t think of many countries that are able to do this productively, so let’s try.” he said.
