August 02, 05:45 PM 
514 Chai Chee Lane 03-16, Singapore 469029 This is the contest before the real contest.
Both Workers' Party (WP) and National Solidarity Party (NSP) want to contest in Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC.
Last Sunday (July 26), WP chairperson Sylvia Lim told Channel News Asia that they will contest a total of 28 seats in the upcoming General Election: 5 Group Representation Constituencies and 5 Single Member Constituencies.
The seats they planned to contest include Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC, seats that were also claimed by the NSP.
Lim told the media today at Blk 216 Bedok North Street 1 after the WP's Hammer Outreach that WP had initiated contact with the NSP and are trying to sorting out a deal.
Posted by Mothership.sg on Saturday, August 1, 2015
Here are three things to ponder on whether WP or NSP should contest in Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC
1. Who choped Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC in the last GE?
In GE 2011, Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC were formerly cut along the boundary such that it was Marine Parade GRC and Joo Chiat SMC.
In GE 2011, NSP contested in Marine Parade GRC and scored a highly respectable 43.36%.
Source: Wikipedia
On the other hand, WP contested in Joo Chiat SMC and lost by a mere 388 votes (48.98%).
WP's candidate for Joo Chiat, Yee Jenn Jong subsequently became a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) for being the "best loser".
Source: Wikipedia
In other words, both parties have valid claims to the seats.
2. The Joo Chiat factor
Photo by Jonathan Lim
WP chief Low Thia Khiang said on WP's Facebook page last Sunday that "as a matter of principle, the Workers' Party will contest where we have contested before".
He added:
"In this case, Joo Chiat is being redrawn into Marine Parade. We don't want to disappoint voters in Joo Chiat. We want to offer them a choice again in this election."
Yee Jenn Jong was seen by political observers and opposition members alike as the "biggest loser" following the release of the electoral boundaries report.
Unlike Potong Pasir which remained intact, Joo Chiat was the seat with the highest opposition votes that disappeared.
Photo by Jonathan Lim
It will be difficult to dispute Yee's "moral claim" to Marine Parade GRC which now contains Joo Chiat SMC, should he declare that he would lead WP's Marine Parade GRC team.
3. The Nicole Seah factor
Although a GRC contest is a team effort, the highly eloquent Nicole Seah stole the limelight. She became a social media sensation, garnering more than 80,000 Facebook fans during the GE 2011 campaign.
In fact, the face and leader of NSP's Marine Parade GRC team outperformed all NSP teams in GE 2011, including its former Sec-Gen Goh Meng Seng and Acting Sec-Gen Hazel Poa.
Source: Wikipedia
Source: Wikipedia
Source: Wikipedia
If Seah is still an NSP member, NSP would have stronger claims to contest in the Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC.
Unfortunately, Seah has resigned from NSP in August 2014. Poa told the media today that they have initiated contact with Seah via WhatsApp in the hope that she will return. She also claimed that Seah has yet to respond.
This time round, NSP may be fielding an equally youthful female candidate as Seah's replacement - Kevryn Lim.
Lim, 26, told TODAY that she was indeed inspired by Seah to enter politics.
Source: NSP Facebook (Lim is the lady shaking the hands of a female resident)
Anyway, Seah has just confirmed in a Mothership.sg exclusive that she will not be running in the upcoming GE.
Intriguingly, Seah also told Lianhe Zaobao (July 29) earlier that she does not rule out returning to Singapore to help some of the candidates during GE.
If Seah is not assisting NSP or SingFirst (as reported in the Chinese papers), will it be WP or Chiam See Tong's Singapore People's Party (SPP)?
WP will have an even stronger justification to claim Marine Parade GRC and MacPherson SMC as their own if Seah is indeed assisting them.
Photos by Jonathan Lim.
If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook and Twitter to get the latest updates.