The OPPO should not contest in all 89 seats!!!! SL

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:




SINGAPORE: Analysing the massive swing towards the People’s Action Party seen in the General Election results, Workers’ Party (WP) chairman Sylvia Lim said that perhaps voters were trying to send a message to the Opposition party.


Speaking to the media during the party’s walkabout on Saturday (Sep 12) to thank Aljunied supporters, Ms Lim said, “I’m not sure whether the voters are also trying to send a message that maybe they don’t want too many Opposition (MPs). Perhaps they don’t really want the Workers’ Party to grow more than what we are now.”


“There are many interpretations, and of course one of the things which I think probably did loom in people’s minds also was the fact that for the first time all 89 seats are contested. Perhaps some people did feel that there was somerisk that whether sooner or later that the PAP might be dislodged as aGovernment.”


"I think the majority of Singaporeans probably still want the People's Action Party (PAP) as the government. So it is possible that the fact that all seats were contested resulted in some pushback."


AHPETC NOT THE REASON: SYLVIA LIM


The Aljunied GRC MP-Elect, who successfully defended her seat by a razor-thinmargin of 1.9 per cent against the PAP, also dismissed the idea that recent allegations of town council financial mismanagement had a large bearing on the party's performance.


"The numbers don't suggest that," she said. "Because the national swing was about 10 per cent towards the ruling party, but you find that in our wards, in Hougang, Aljunied or even Punggol East it's about five per cent or less. So if the town council issues were to affect us, we will see a bigger swing against us".


She said the party will have to study in deeper detail the results of the election, and mull over the question of non-constituency MPs. "We will need to look in detail about some of the voting patterns and try to understand whether we think it is the national mood or some national issues or could it be some localised issues that caused voting to be in a certain way," she said.


But she hinted that the party is likely to continue with its current stance and direction in parliament.


"We've always taken the stand of being constructive in parliament, and if the ruling party has an agenda which we feel is justifiable or is something which we feel is good in the national interest, we will not oppose it," said Ms Lim.


"Even though we've been criticised for being too moderate, we feel that that's the way we want to run our parliamentary agenda and I don't think that will change. Of course we will continue to engage and if necessary oppose the ruling party on things we think are not good enough for the people."


"As far as Aljunied is concerned our groundwork has always been there. Whether we should have done more or less, that's up to people to decide but I think we have been doing consistent groundwork in Aljunied. So it's logical that during the campaign period where we were actually contesting in areas where we were not incumbent, we have to do more work there because firstly you know the boundaries were released only a couple of weeks ago so it makes sense for us to also make an effort there."


POSSIBILITY OF ALL NCMPs FROM WP


WP will also be offered three Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMP) seats because they produced the "best losers" - defeated Opposition candidates who secured the highest vote share. This sets up the likely scenario that all nine Opposition MPs - six elected and three Non-Constituency - in the next Parliament will come from WP.


Topping the rankings of "best losers" is WP's Lee Li Lian. Ms Lee lost to the PAP's Charles Chong in Punggol East Single Member Constituency (SMC), garnering 48.24 percent of the votes. She has, however, told the media after the results were announced that she is not inclined to accept the NCMP seat if offered.


Next is Mr Dennis Tan, who lost to PAP's first-timer Cheryl Chan in Fengshan SMC, with 42.48 percent of the vote.


He is followed by the East Coast Group Representation Constituency (GRC) team of former NCMP Gerald Giam, Mr Daniel Goh, Mr Leon Perera, and Mr Mohamed Fairoz Shariff.


The four-man lineup was tipped to upset the PAP team led by Manpower Minister Lim Swee Say but wound up with 39.27 per cent of the vote.


The Singapore Parliamentary Elections Act allows for a maximum of two NCMPs from a GRC.


The party will resume their meet the people's session next week.

- CNA/wl


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