GE2025: Strong showing for PAP as it wins Tanjong Pagar GRC, Queenstown and Radin Mas SMCs

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SINGAPORE – The PAP has won Tanjong Pagar GRC – helmed by Education Minister Chan Chun Sing – with 81.03 per cent of the vote against the People’s Alliance for Reform (PAR). This is the ruling party’s best performance in a GRC since such electoral divisions were created in 1988.

Tanjong Pagar has once again proved to be a PAP stronghold. The margin of victory is far bigger than at the 2020 General Election, when PAP won 63.1 per cent of the vote against the PSP.

There were also clear PAP victories in the neighbouring SMCs of Queenstown – a new constituency carved out of Tanjong Pagar GRC – and Radin Mas.

In Henderson Road, where the PAP team and supporters were gathered, Mr Chan was asked about the party’s strong performance, but he would say only that “our focus is always on the residents”, and that the work resumes the “first thing in the morning”.

“We always believe that if we take care of the residents, the residents will take care of the results,” he told reporters.

“This has always been our belief in team Tanjong Pagar, and this will always be our belief going forward.”

This was only the third time the five-member GRC was contested. The PAP had banked on its track record in the constituency of 140,194 voters, previously led by founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

The Tanjong Pagar team did not hold any rallies during this campaign. 

In Queenstown, Mr Eric Chua secured 81.12 per cent of the vote against Mr Mahaboob Batcha of the PAR. Mr Chua is Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Culture, Community and Youth as well as Social and Family Development.

On the “secret sauce” to his success, Mr Chua said his mission has always been to serve the people. His win was the highest margin of victory for a single-member constituency in this election.

He said he will continue to run initiatives for the constituency, such as a festival to promote hawker culture and a food donation drive for lower-income families. “I think if we stay true to this mission... we will let our voters decide the results for themselves,” he said.

In a statement, Mr Batcha said that he remains committed to serving Queenstown. “We will continue to engage with residents and work tirelessly towards building a better community.”

Mr Melvin Yong prevailed in Radin Mas, after a three-cornered fight against Mr Kumar Appavoo of the PAR and independent candidate Darryl Lo, with 69.17 per cent of the vote. Mr Yong is the assistant secretary-general of the National Trades Union Congress.

Mr Appavoo won 7.36 per cent of the vote, while Mr Lo’s share was 23.47 per cent. In GE2020, Mr Yong won 74.01 per cent of the vote against Mr Appavoo, who was then with the Reform Party.

Commenting on the results, Mr Yong said “we will study some more on what we need to do better”, and that the work continues. 

Mr Lo told The Straits Times that he was happy with his performance, and thanked all 5,362 people in Radin Mas who voted for him.

The Singapore Management University law graduate said: “The results demonstrated that Singaporeans are seeking a credible opposition.”

He added: “I hope that the performance of (Mountbatten SMC candidate) Jeremy Tan and I this time round will encourage more independent candidates to stand up in the future.”

Mr Lo said previously that he was standing for election because he believed there was no credible opposition in his constituency.

In Tanjong Pagar, the PAP team included Mr Chan; backbencher Joan Pereira, who joined politics in 2015; Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Culture, Community and Youth Alvin Tan; and Ms Rachel Ong, whose Telok Blangah ward was redrawn into Tanjong Pagar.

Completing the slate is political newcomer Foo Cexiang, a former director at the Ministry of Transport who took over from Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office. She was

moved to helm Pasir Ris-Changi GRC

.

The PAP’s previous strongest showing in a group representation constituency was in 2001, when it won Jurong GRC with 79.75 per cent of the votes against the Singapore Democratic Party.

Mr Chan said that Tanjong Pagar Town Council will be reconfigured, with Mr Yong to continue as the chairman, assisted by Mr Chua and Ms Ong. All seven wards will be served as one “team Tanjong Pagar”, Mr Chan added. 

The PAR’s Tanjong Pagar team comprised commercial banker Prabu Ramachandran; Mr Nadarajan Selvamani, a director of a private school; Mr Rickson Giauw, a site safety adviser and officer; Ms Han Hui Hui, a human rights fellow at a foreign university who has contested in previous general elections; and senior logistics assistant Soh Lian Chye.

The PAR had campaigned on making education, school meals and healthcare free for every Singaporean child, as well as exempting essential items such as groceries from the goods and services tax, among other issues.

PAR was formed in December 2023 as an alliance of four parties, including Peoples Voice, the Reform Party and the Democratic Progressive Party. The People’s Power Party

withdrew from the alliance over “irreconcilable strategic differences”

.