PSP fielding fewer candidates for GE2025, aiming for West Coast-Jurong West & Chua Chu Kang GRCs

The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) will be fielding fewer candidates for the upcoming General Election, Secretary-General Leong Mun Wai said on Apr. 6 at the launch of the party's manifesto.

The party needs to "focus"

According to Leong, based on their last experience at GE2020, the party has decided that it needs to "focus", Leong said.

"To run an election is a very complicated affair," he added.

Apart from raising money, there is also the issue of manpower, especially when it comes to canvassing the ground and making sure the engagement is properly done.

There is also the matter of coordinating the communication strategy for 24 candidates, which was the number of people they fielded in the previous election, compared to say, 18 candidates, Leong added.

He did not give exact details on how many candidates the PSP will field this time, however.

He confirmed that the PSP will contest in West Coast-Jurong West GRC and Chua Chu Kang GRC.

"The rest (of the constituencies) we are still in the planning stage," he said.

PSP will "definitely" not form the government

Party chairman Tan Cheng Bock also pointed out that the PSP will definitely not form the government as it is a young party.

He also noted that PSP had fielded "quite a number" of candidates in GE2020, but the party has had to reconsider its strategy.

What is important however, is that the party is able to get into Parliament, he said, and put forward its policies.

"In the subsequent general elections, if we do well and Singaporeans have more faith in us, then I am sure we can make the changes we want," he added.

Hence, it is important that PSP's new candidates enter Parliament and prove that they are worthy of being listened to by the people.

This will translate into PSP being the first choice when people go to the polls, he said.

PSP's policies will make its way towards implementation through "cross-pollination"

As for how the PSP's proposals will be implemented beyond debates, Leong pointed out that Parliament is a forum for the contestation of ideas.

Such ideas will also "cross-pollinate", he said, when they are discussed and debated.

Leong also expressed his hope that the government would not hold back on sharing data to provide a "free contestation of ideas".

The Non-Constituency Member of Parliament then highlighted that just because the PSP won't form the government in the immediate future, it doesn't mean that the policy ideas are useless:

"At the same time, if you observe very closely, actually, many of our ideas over the last four years has some influence on government policies.

Look at the way they are so worried about manpower policies. Look at the way they have ramped up supply of housing. Although we think that ramping up the supply not the solution, but they ramped up supply nevertheless because our housing ideas that we have presented in our housing motion has gone down to the ground.

Singaporeans and even other parliamentarians are taking those ideas very seriously. So even though we are not the government, ideas will still influence.

So I think we will continue to do that to show our worth in Parliament."

Hazel Poa, Leong's fellow NCMP and the party Vice-Chair, said that she believes the PSP's push for their policies has impacted Singapore government policies.

She pointed out the COMPASS system for employment passes, which was implemented after the Parliamentary jobs debate, and claimed that she believes this was as a result of PSP's efforts.

"So that's one concrete change that we have successfully pushed for. So we will continue doing the same thing that we have been doing, even though we cannot get completely what we asked for. There will be some progress, right?"

Similarly, Poa said she believes the government has been stepping up efforts in building housing due to PSP's efforts at raising the issue.

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Top photo by Zhangxin Zheng