Marine Parade-Braddell Heights walkover prompts anger, sadness & surprise from non-WP opposition

With no opposition party contesting Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, the five seats will automatically go to the People's Action Party (PAP) due to a walkover.

Leading up to Nomination Day, many were speculating that the Workers' Party (WP) would contest constituency, as they had stood for election in Marine Parade GRC in 2020 and won 42.26 per cent of the vote.

In an unexpected twist, the WP instead fielded a five-member team in Tampines GRC (which it did not contest in 2020), setting up the stage for a four-corner fight with PAP, National Solidarity Party (NSP) and the People's Power Party (PPP).

This is the first walkover since the 2011 general election, when a PAP team for Tanjong Pagar GRC won uncontested.

Shortly after, many opposition political parties expressed their views about the unexpected walkover.

Anger filled up my mind, sadness [came] to my eyes: PPP Goh Meng Seng

"Anger filled up my mind, sadness [came] to my eyes in tears and disappointment," PPP secretary-general Goh Meng Seng said of the walkover to the media.

"It is very ironic that the slogan of Workers' Party is working for Singapore. But do you really work for Singapore when you deprive 130,000 voters [of] their right to vote?"

@mothershipsg “Anger filled up my mind. Sadness come to my eyes […],” said PPP’s Goh Meng Seng in response to the Workers’ Party withdrawal from Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. #GE2025 #singapore#sgnews Goh’s team is contesting Tampines GRC in a four-cornered fight against PAP, WP and NSP. Things are COOKING. Follow #MothershipGE2025 ♬ original sound - Mothership

In a separate Facebook post, Goh addressed a reporter's question enquiring about PPP's alleged lack of assentors up until the night before the nomination day, suggesting that PPP were "last minute" contest.

"I categorically denied it with facts," Goh said, saying that the party's nomination papers were filled with assentors, all properly printed on them.

He instead claimed that WP has "the least number of assentors among all contesting parties, and their nomination papers were apparently handwritten", and called the WP a "last-minute spoiler party."

Our team was dumbfounded: PPP's Derrick Sim

In a Facebook post on Apr. 23, PPP chairman Derrick Sim also commented on the walkover.

"Our team was dumbfounded. Even the PAP candidates looked visibly shocked," Sim said.

Sim noted that WP has been "consistently contesting and walking the ground in Marine Parade for over a decade."

WP new face, Harpreet Singh, was also often spotted in the constituency.

"And now, they totally abandon all that ground effort to parachute into Tampines — a GRC where multiple teams had already confirmed their intentions early on, and even made public statements," Sim said.

A surprise to every one of us: NSP's Spencer Ng

Speaking to the media on Apr. 23, National Solidarity Party (NSP) secretary-general Spencer Ng said that: "[The walkover] definitely is a surprise to every one of us."

Ng said everyone had expected WP to field a team in the Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

The NSP had initially expressed its intention to contest the constituency.

"The residents there, you have to wait for another five years," Ng said.

"NSP has always done our best to avoid [a] three-cornered fight to the best that we can.

But there's something that we have to draw a line, whereby we have to be responsible to our residents and not abandoning them whenever there's a challenge or unknown reason."

Every constituency benefits from active participation & competition: SPP's Steve Chia

In a media statement, Singapore People's Party secretary-general Steve Chia said that the party "was indeed surprised" by WP's choice not to contest in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

He added that the party believes "that every constituency benefits from active participation and competition, as it fosters greater accountability and encourages parties to put forth their best ideas for the community".

"While we respect the strategic choices made by other parties, we regret that voters in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC will not have the opportunity to express their preferences through the polls this time."

We should give Singaporeans a chance to experience the democratic process: PSP's Leong Mun Wai

Speaking to the media on Apr. 23, Progress Singapore Party (PSP) secretary-general Leong Mun Wai said that the party found the unexpected walkover in a group representation constituency slightly disappointing.

“PSP believes that we should give Singaporeans a chance to experience the democratic process, we should not have a walkover, so that is a bit disappointing, but I suppose there are valid reasons why that happened,” Leong said, as quoted by The Straits Times.

A difficult choice: WP Pritam Singh

In a Facebook post on Apr. 23, WP chief Pritam Singh addressed the walkover at Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

He said that the party had to make the difficult choice of where to deploy their limited resources.

Singh said that this was so as the electoral boundaries got redrawn ahead of GE2025.