When asked about the party’s preparations for three-corner fights, Mr Ng said on Apr 20: “Let us not be disillusioned that the PAP can be easily dislodged.”
Meanwhile, the SUP team has spoken to Reform Party treasurer Mahaboob Baatsha, said Mr Zhu, and Mr Mahaboob confirmed that his party would not contest in Ang Mo Kio GRC again this year, CNA reported on Apr 6.
In the 2020 election, the PAP secured 71.91 per cent of votes in Ang Mo Kio GRC against the Reform Party.
The Singapore Democratic Alliance was supposed to reveal if it would contest Punggol GRC, which might be contested by the PAP and WP, on Tuesday. However, the party had cancelled a press conference to attend a funeral.
IMPACT OF MULTI-CORNERED FIGHT DEPENDS ON WHICH OPPOSITION PARTY CONTESTS: EXPERTS
Experts said there are several reasons for the increased number of multi-cornered fights.
Independent political observer Felix Tan said the “dramatic” changes to electoral boundaries is one reason, with another being the announcement of many new candidates.
“Everyone feels that they have the opportunity to start afresh in these constituencies,” he said. “Each of these political parties feel that no one political party has all the answers to policymaking in Singapore.”
Associate Professor Tan Ern Ser of the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) said that many opposition parties have confidence that the “ground is sweet for them”.
“The opposition landscape seems to have morphed into parties that see themselves as more or less equally electable based on their own merit in the constituencies they consider themselves to have a significant foothold,” he told CNA.
SMU’s Assoc Prof Tan said while there will be more multi-cornered fights than previous elections, many may not materialise.
He noted that such contests are more likely to occur in SMCs and in the western half of Singapore, areas where the WP is unlikely to contest.
“Where WP is involved, the opposition vote will likely and significantly coalesce around it. This vote pooling behind the WP could result in the other opposition party coming a distant third and losing the election deposits,” he said.
He added that in a scenario where the difference between the two opposition parties is “not clear”, the opposition vote could be split between both parties. Such a scenario could pave the way for a “comfortable victory for the PAP”.
While Dr Tan said multi-cornered fights have made Singapore’s opposition landscape “really messy”, it can also be seen as a sign that more people are becoming actively engaged in politics.
“In a democracy, you tend to see this sort of active involvement of political parties. There seems to be more people being involved in politics because they want to play a part in deciding or charting Singapore’s direction.”
When asked about how the rise in multi-cornered fights has changed the messaging of opposition unity, Dr Tan said that “there’s no unity in the opposition parties. It’s each for themselves. At the end of the day, politics is a selfish game”, he said.
Dr Tan added that the PAP would have to “strengthen its core” and attract the right people into their team, and the same goes for WP.
“They are so far the strongest opposition party. They have maintained a lead amongst all the opposition parties, and they need to continue with that lead,” he said.
“So to attract more credible individuals into their party would be something very important for them,” Dr Tan added.
Additional reporting by Ang Hwee Min, Davina Tham and Abigail Ng
