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Singapore general election 2025
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Singapore election: PAP bets big with deputy PM in Punggol GRC to face Harpreet Singh’s WP team

The May 3 election is seen as a test of public confidence in Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s leadership

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Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (second from left) waves with fellow People’s Action Party team members after delivering their speeches at a nomination centre on Wednesday. Photo: EPA-EFE
Kimberly LimandJean Iau
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  • Last-minute ministerial switches by the ruling PAP include Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong moving east to Punggol where he will face WP star candidate Harpreet Singh.

  • The PAP will hold onto Marine Parade-Braddell Heights after the first walkover the city state has seen since 2011.

  • Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat and Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean confirm they will retire from politics.

  • A rare four-cornered fight will take place in Tampines GRC.

Singapore’s Nomination Day began on Wednesday with some uncertainty, as the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) did not reveal its line-up in expected key battlegrounds, suggesting the possibility of eleventh-hour redeployments among cabinet ministers to shore itself up against its main opponent, the Workers’ Party (WP).

The PAP made several surprise moves as nominations began at 11am and ended at noon, with Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong making a switch from the northwest to the new group representation constituency (GRC) of Punggol in the northeast.

This move will pit Gan against the WP’s star candidate, senior counsel Harpreet Singh, who leads the team in Punggol, an area bordering the party’s strongholds in the multi-seat constituencies of Sengkang and Aljunied.

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