Wednesday, March 2, 2011

GE: Opposition parties plan to discuss constituency allocation

GE: Opposition parties plan to discuss constituency allocation

SINGAPORE: Some of Singapore’s opposition parties are planning to meet on Wednesday evening to decide on the allocation of constituencies for the coming General Election.

A council member of the Singapore Democratic Alliance said the key opposition parties plan to meet once again on Saturday if no decision is reached on Wednesday.

12 Single Member Constituencies and 15 Group Representation Constituencies are at stake at the General Election.

All the 12 single seats are expected to be contested by the opposition parties but political watchers said a key challenge for them is to avoid three—cornered fights.

Observers have said that a three—cornered fight with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) will only dilute the opposition’s vote share and lower their chances against the PAP.

Several GRCs have also been visited by more than one opposition party over the past few months.

For example, the Singapore Democratic Alliance and Worker’s Party have both claimed to have been active on the ground at Punggol East SMC.

As for Moulmein—Kallang GRC, both the Worker’s Party and National Solidarity Party have staked their claim there.

And at least three opposition groups have expressed interest in Bishan—Toa Payoh GRC. They are the Singapore Democratic Alliance, the Singapore Democratic Party and the Reform party.

Saturday is when the opposition parties are expected to finalise the constituencies they will be contesting.

The major opposition parties will all be attending tomorrow’s meeting, except for the Reform Party.

The Secretary General of the Reform Party, Kenneth Jeyeratnam said he has requested for Wednesday’s meeting to be postponed as his party is busy and would be unable to attend.

Singapore’s next Parliament will have a total of 87 MPs, up from the current 84. The key test would be in seeing how much resources the opposition can come up with to contest as many seats as possible.

— CNA/fa/ac

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