GE2025: Pritam Singh rebuts opposition criticism of WP not contesting Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC
“They make decisions in their enlightened self-interest and so do we,” says the Workers' Party chief. The constituency ended up as a walkover for the ruling PAP.
Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh addresses questions from the media in Sengkang on Apr 24, 2025. (CNA/Tan Wen Lin)
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SINGAPORE: Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh on Thursday (Apr 24) defended the party's decision not to contest in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC in Singapore's May 3 General Election, after other opposition blocs expressed surprise and disappointment in the move.
The WP had been tipped to field a team in the constituency, given that it did so at the 2015 and 2020 elections, as well as their longtime presence on the ground in estates there.
Instead, a ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) slate was declared elected on Nomination Day after no other candidates submitted their papers.
Asked by CNA if the WP could have considered informing other opposition parties of their decision, and possibly preventing the walkover, Mr Singh said: “It's not as if some of these opposition parties – and full respect to them, because they have the right to contest elections – but they don't approach us when they say: 'Can I stand here, can I stand there?'
“We respect them, we respect their agency," he added. "They make decisions in their enlightened self-interest and so do we."
The opposition People’s Power Party (PPP) secretary-general Goh Meng Seng also told the media on Wednesday that his party would have contested in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights had the WP not been “mum about their deployment”. He called the move “purely irresponsible”.
In response, Mr Singh on Thursday said: “Mr Goh should focus on the campaign in Tampines.”
The WP is going up against the PPP, National Solidarity Party and an incumbent PAP team led by Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli, in a rare four-cornered fight in Tampines.
Mr Singh was speaking to reporters after greeting residents at a hawker centre in Sengkang GRC, alongside his party's candidates for the constituency – Mr Abdul Muhaimin, Ms He Ting Ru, Associate Professor Jamus Lim and Mr Louis Chua.
Party chair Sylvia Lim, former WP secretary-general Low Thia Kiang and ex-Member of Parliament for Hougang Png Eng Huat were also present on Thursday morning.
Mr Singh also told reporters he had met with some residents of Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC after Nomination Day on Wednesday, to explain the party's decision.
“I acknowledged and validated their disappointment that we were not standing there.
“But after I explained it to them, after I shared with them the reality of boundaries being redrawn, the reality of our own calculations as a party, as to what is a better strategy – I think they understood where I was coming from,” said Mr Singh.
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MULTI-CORNERED FIGHTS "TO BE THE NORM"
Instead of Marine Parade-Braddell Heights, the WP ended up making a play for Tampines – a Group Representation Constituency it has never contested in.
The surprise move also saw former MP Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap leave the Aljunied GRC team to lead a Tampines slate, also comprising new faces Dr Ong Lue Ping, Mr Michael Thng, Ms Eileen Chong and Mr Jimmy Tan.
Reporters on Thursday asked Mr Singh why WP decided to run in Tampines GRC for the first time, and whether he had concerns over the four-way battle.
"We’ve been walking in Tampines for some time prior to GE2020," said Mr Singh. "We wanted to field a team there, but at that point, again, we did not have a good enough group of people who were prepared to step forward.”
He said such multi-cornered contests were “going to be the norm” in Singapore’s political scene in future.
“I expected there to be three, four-cornered fights in this election campaign, but they shouldn't dissuade us from putting forward a credible proposition to Singaporeans for a rational, responsible party in parliament.”
As for the WP’s strategy behind where to field its candidates, in light of the last-minute switches seen on Nomination Day, Mr Singh said there was "nothing untoward" about the party's planning.
“As I mentioned previously, you could tell that even the PAP didn't confirm its slate way until the end. So certainly we were quite clear what we wanted to do,” he said.
“The question was, of course, to manage our own candidates in the way that we wanted to ... We put forward the best slate of candidates we can for Singapore. We want a more balanced political system.”
