Minister of Health Ong Ye Kung, said on Saturday that elections are an open contest, and it is a positive thing to let voters have a choice, as long as the competition is healthy, according to The Straits Times.
Ong’s statement was in response to the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) declaring that they will be contesting for Sembawang GRC in the next election.
Ong serves as the People’s Action Party (PAP)’s anchor minister for the Sembawang GRC.
SDP announced their intention to “return home” to Sembawang GRC during a 5-hour walkabout on National Day in the constituencies that they contested in during the 2020 General Election.
SDP’s statement on Facebook
Yesterday, we celebrated National Day by embarking on a 5-hour walkabout to cover SDP for Bukit Panjang SMC, SDP Holland Bukit Timah GRC, SDP Marsiling – Yew Tee GRC, Yuhua SMC & Bukit Batok SMC & greeted constituents with National Day & Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) mini flags.
We rounded up our walkabout at SDP Sembawang GRC where we held a media doorstop to demonstrate our intention to “return home” to the constituency where we had previously contested in the 2006 & 2011 General Elections. We had also reiterated our commitment to contest in the 5 constituencies which we had done so in the 2020 General Elections.
Healthy contest
Ong spoke to the media during a community event on Saturday, saying that he was not surprised by SDP’s intention to contest for Sembawang GRC as they had done it before.
However, they have not been active in the area since contesting it more than 10 years ago.
Ong said that they are looking forward to a healthy contest and that the PAP will do its best to win the mandate of the people.
He also noted that there are still some years to go before the next election and that his team and he will focus on fulfilling the promises that were made to the residents, such as the building of the Bukit Canberra integrated hub, which will house an 800-seat hawker centre, a polyclinic and an indoor sports hall.
History
The SDP was beaten by the PAP during the 2006 and 2011 elections where they contested for Sembawang GRC, with the PAP winning with 76.7% and 63.9% of the votes respectively.
Image source: Paul Tambyah on Facebook