June 30, 2020, 03:29 PM
Today (June 30) is Nomination Day.
At Nan Hua High School, candidates standing in constituencies in the West have submitted their nomination forms and confirmed their candidacies earlier this morning.
This includes Jurong GRC, which will see a battle between People's Action Party (PAP) and the newest political party in Singapore, Red Dot United (RDU), started by two former Progress Singapore Party members - Michelle Lee and Ravi Philemon.
Jurong GRC
Team PAP consists of:
Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Tan Wu Meng
Rahayu Mahzam
Huang Wei Zhong Shawn
Xie Yao Quan
Photo by Kayla Wong.
In his speech, Tharman said that his teammates have all served Jurong for many years. He said, "Rahayu and Dr. Tan for five years, Xie Yao Quan five years, Shawn for 10 years and myself for 19 years".
Tharman also thanked Desmond Lee, Minister for Social and Family Development and Ang Wei Neng for their past contributions to the constituency.
Lee and Ang have joined Minister for Communications and Information Iswaran in West Coast GRC for the upcoming election.
He emphasised that the team's first priority is to help the residents see through this Covid-19 crisis.
Xie and Rahayu then delivered messages in Mandarin and Malay as well.
Photo © Lim Sin Thai for Mothership.
Team Red Dot United consists of:
Ravi Philemon
Liyana Dhamirah
Michelle Lee Juen
Nicholas Tang
Alec Tok
Photo © Lim Sin Thai for Mothership.
Speaking in both Mandarin and English, Lee said that while the team is new, the teammates have been "serving Singapore in the political and civil society for many years".
Lee said very few of the opposition parties want to contest in Jurong GRC, where the PAP secured the largest margin of victory in GE2015, with anchor minister Tharman arguably "the most popular politician in Singapore".
However, RDU decided to contest, as they want to give Singaporeans a choice, and for the people to point the leaders in the right direction.
"This election is not about winning or losing. It is about standing up to be counted. And it is about the voices of the people of Jurong being counted as well."
Earlier in the day, Lee admitted that this fight against the PAP team is "kind of against the odds" but they managed to gather sufficient resources in time, including the deposit they needed.
Top photo: screenshot from Mothership video and photo © Lim Sin Thai for Mothership.
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