SINGAPORE: Minister for National Development Desmond Lee will lead the People’s Action Party (PAP) team in West Coast-Jurong West GRC in the upcoming General Election.
The five-member slate includes two first-time candidates: orthopaedic surgeon Hamid Razak, 39, and lawyer Cassandra Lee, 33, the party announced on Tuesday (Apr 15).
They will join Senior Parliamentary Secretary Shawn Huang, whose Taman Jurong division was moved over from Jurong GRC under the new electoral map, and West Coast GRC incumbent MP Ang Wei Neng.
MPs Foo Mee Har, who entered politics in 2011 and represented the Ayer Rajah-Gek Poh ward, and Rachel Ong, who made her electoral debut in 2020 and oversaw the Telok Blangah division, will not be part of the team. It is unclear whether both will step down or be deployed to other constituencies.
Former transport minister S Iswaran, an MP in the GRC since 1997, resigned in January last year after he was charged with corruption. He eventually pleaded guilty to lesser charges of obtaining gifts and was sentenced to 12 months in jail last October and is currently serving home detention.
Introducing the refreshed PAP slate at the party’s West Coast branch office on Tuesday, Mr Lee said the team has been working with residents and volunteers to improve the community through social and outreach programmes – particularly for seniors, jobseekers and youth.
“I’d like to thank all our residents and partners for your faith and trust in us these past many years and for supporting these important initiatives,” he said.
He added that the West Coast-Jurong West GRC team is seeking residents’ continued support in the coming election, “so that we can implement our plans and continue to roll out the existing programmes that we have initiated over the past few years”.
The GRC, formerly known as West Coast, was the most hotly contested constituency in the 2020 General Election. Then, the PAP won with 51.69 per cent of the vote against the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), which secured two Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) seats for Mr Leong Mun Wai and Ms Hazel Poa.
The PSP has confirmed it will contest the GRC again this year.
The ward has undergone significant boundary changes following the latest electoral map review. It now includes parts of Jurong West and Taman Jurong, leading to its new name – West Coast-Jurong West GRC. The electorate has grown to 158,581 voters.
To maintain voter-to-MP ratios, the eastern-most areas of the former GRC, including Harbourfront and Sentosa, were shifted to Radin Mas SMC, while Dover and parts of Telok Blangah were moved to Tanjong Pagar GRC.
HAMID RAZAK
