SINGAPORE: The Singapore People’s Party (SPP) hopes to avoid a three-cornered fight at familiar battleground Potong Pasir, but People’s Alliance for Reform (PAR) secretary-general Lim Tean said his party “very much plans to contest there” too.
In a Facebook post on Mar 11, Mr Lim announced that the PAR will contest in two Group Representation constituencies (GRC) and eight Single Member Constituencies (SMC), one of which is Potong Pasir SMC.
The SMC, which is a former stronghold of opposition veteran Chiam See Tong, is one that SPP is going to contest in the upcoming General Election, said its secretary-general Steve Chia during a walkabout in Toa Payoh on Saturday (Mar 29).
“SPP has been contesting Potong Pasir all these years, ever since Mr Chiam See Tong, Mrs (Lina) Chiam, Jose Raymond,” he said. “This coming election, we will still be contesting in Potong Pasir, we cannot let the people of Potong Pasir down.”
He said that he had spoken with Mr Lim in the last week to tell his party that SPP is “very firm with our candidate contesting in Potong Pasir”.
Responding to queries from CNA, Mr Lim said that Potong Pasir is still one of PAR’s “top priorities”.
“We very much plan to contest there,” said Mr Lim, founder of Peoples Voice, which is a component party of the PAR.
Asked to respond to Mr Lim’s stance, Mr Chia said: “I have not heard from him directly (since the last conversation), so we probably have to meet again before nomination day to finalise and tie down.”
When queried if giving way to PAR to contest in Potong Pasir is an option, Mr Chia said: “I won’t commit to the media on that.”
