Opposition Workers’ Party wards of Aljunied Group Representation Constituency and Hougang Single Representation Constituency have remained intact after electoral boundaries were redrawn.

The Electoral Boundaries Review Committee released its report on March 13, 2020, signalling the next general election is going to be called in Singapore in a matter of weeks or months — or less.

The confirmation that the two opposition-held wards remain unaffected means battle to wins hearts and minds of constituents there are set in motion, as they shall be the most closely-watched territories this upcoming general election.

Constituencies by numbers

According to the EBRC report, Hougang SMC has 25,629 electors, while Aljunied GRC has 150,303 electors.

Both constituencies have seen the number of electors grow over the last five years or so since 2015.

Previously in 2015, there were 24,097 electors in Hougang SMC and 148,142 electors in Aljunied GRC.

This could be due more to demographic changes as more of the population comes of age to vote, conditional on no or few new residential dwellings having been built over the last five years.

WP notes realignment of boundaries

WP issued a statement in response to the report’s release shortly after it came out.

The party noted that the committee failed to disclose how it came to its decisions yet again, as well as highlighting that single-member constituencies the party had been active in were wiped off the map.

These areas include Sengkang West, Fengshan and Punggol East SMCs

Up for grabs this GE

Up for grabs will be a total of 93 seats in Parliament, up from 89 currently.

Five-person Aljunied GRC will be one of the 17 GRCs up for grabs.

Hougang SMC will be one of the 14 hotly contested SMCs, where there are currently 13 SMCs.

Background

It has been close to nine years since Workers' Party won Aljunied GRC in GE2011 on May 7 that year, in a historic path-blazing victory by toppling a PAP-held GRC for the first time ever since GRCs were introduced in 1988.

In GE2015, on Sept. 11 that year, the Aljunied GRC WP team withstood a swing back to the incumbent PAP islandwide in the polls, buoyed by the demise of first prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in March that year and the year-long SG50 celebrations.

It was the first true test for the opposition contesting in a GRC.

WP MPs were subsequently saddled by the long-running Aljunied-Hougang Town Council civil suit saga the past two years, but they have seen strong public support in the form of monetary donations to help tide the MPs involved over, as the public stepped in to foot the legal bills incurred.

The MPs raised S$1 million within 60 hours.

The WP MPs involved are appealing.

Top photo via Workers' Party