3 things stopping Workers' Party from entirely convincing S'poreans why 20 seats are better than 9 seats

Time for WP to pull up their socks for the next few days of GE campaigning.

Martino Tan| September 03, 05:55 PM

Singaporeans were understandably excited when the Workers’ Party (WP) announced on July 26, 2015, way before any other opposition parties that they would field 28 candidates in total.

This was WP's largest candidate slate ever at 5 GRCs & 5 SMCs. It shows the decisiveness and confidence of the main opposition party in Singapore who currently have nine seats (7 MPs and 2 NCMPs) in parliament.

However, WP Chief Low Thia Khiang has scaled back WP's expectations of claiming 28 parliamentary seats, by saying in a press conference last week that "at least 20 opposition MPs are needed for a healthy Parliament".

Below are three things stopping WP from entirely convincing Singaporeans why 20 seats are better than nine seats:

1. The "emotional dilemma" for East Coast GRC residents is not present yet: During GE 2011, Foreign Minister George Yeo said, "They (the WP)  are creating an emotional dilemma for the voters of Aljunied GRC". This was because voting against WP would mean that Singaporeans would lose both WP Sec-Gen Low, WP Chairwoman Sylvia Lim, and WP star candidate Chen Show Mao in the GE. It would have left Singapore with a single Opposition seat in Hougang.

The "emotion dilemma" is not present for the East Coast residents yet. Since East Coast GRC is expected to be a tightly fought contest, it would mean that the leader of East Coast would most likely be awarded a Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) seat. Gerald Giam would be able to enter parliament as an NCMP for a second term.

2. Singaporeans are not persuaded yet that they have to move beyond the "status quo": Veteran journalist P N Balji asked whether this GE would be a status-quo election, "with both the PAP and the WP not making much headway". He has a point - the anger against the establishment has tapered off, with PM and his team taking the sting off hot-button issues like public housing, jobs, and immigration.

Are the Singaporeans frustrated enough to agree with Low's sentiment that 20 seats is needed to empower their future? Low has not convincingly closed the deal with the electorate yet.

3. Chee Soon Juan as a spoiler: How many PAP politicians have criticised the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) Sec-Gen so far? Many have lost count but we recalled Ministers Lawrence Wong, Vivian Balakrishnan and Minister of State Sim Ann questioning SDP's policies and its leader's character and integrity. In fact, PM Lee Hsien Loong has alluded to Chee's lack of character in his rally speech last night.

In his bid to shake off his negative image of confrontational politics, Chee has so far jumped at the bait to rebut the PAP politicians' accusations. This in turn has shut off the precious airtime accorded to WP both online and offline. Chee has become a PAP's punching bag and has caused a distraction that is disadvantageous for the WP.

With six more days of campaigning to go, time is running out for the WP to make its case.

 

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