GE2025: Twists and turns on Nomination Day set stage for high-stakes election (2025)

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SINGAPORE - April 23, 2025, will go down as one of the most dramatic nomination days in recent memory, with both the PAP and the WP unveiling unexpected last-minute moves.

Leading up to the day, the PAP had introduced its slates in most constituencies, save for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights, East Coast and Punggol GRCs, while the WP had unveiled 14 political hopefuls, declining to say where most of them would be fielded and even which constituencies it would contest.

WP chief Pritam Singh, asked about this at a press conference, said: “Has the PAP introduced its people in Marine Parade and East Coast officially yet? They have been very coy about the final line-up, right?

“There are no coincidences to that coyness.”

And so the stage was set for a game of bluff and counter-bluff.

No wonder then, that what finally came on Nomination Day was more exciting than what in the past would typically have been a staid affair.

The WP would wait until the last possible moment to confirm its slate.

Not only did the party move Aljunied GRC stalwart Faisal Manap to Tampines GRC into a four-cornered fight, it also fielded one of its more prominent new candidates, lawyer Harpreet Singh Nehal, in Punggol GRC, instead of East Coast GRC where he had been spotted.

Some were stunned at the WP no-show at Kong Hwa School, the nomination centre for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC. Even WP supporters who had turned up were caught unawares.

By the time nominations closed, the party had not sent a team there, and the constituency became the only one with a walkover this election, and the first since 2011.

On the PAP front, it was widely expected that the party would have on standby heavyweight ministers who could be moved to constituencies considered under threat.

Indeed, two days earlier, Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean had said he would not be contesting Pasir Ris-Changi GRC, sparking speculation he could be fielded in neighbouring Punggol GRC instead.

Then on Nomination Day, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat appeared at Yusof Ishak Secondary School, the nomination centre for both Punggol and East Coast GRCs, sparking talk that he could be headed for Punggol.

Eventually, though, it was DPM Gan Kim Yong who turned up and filed his candidate papers to lead the PAP’s team in the new constituency, just 20 minutes or so before nominations closed.

Manpower Minister Tan See Leng, meanwhile, was moved to replace Mr Gan in Chua Chu Kang GRC, leaving Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC without a minister at the helm.

The way the moves and counter-moves unfolded is perhaps a sign of things to come as the electoral landscape becomes more competitive.

Indeed, in my 19 years of covering five elections, it has turned out to have the most twists and turns to date.

After all, the stakes are high, perhaps more so this time around, with Singapore facing challenging times ahead due to US President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

It is Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s first election at the helm, and the result will be seen as a test of his leadership and his fourth-generation team’s policies.

For Mr Pritam Singh, this election is also critical, coming shortly after he was convicted of lying under oath to a parliamentary committee and fined $7,000 for each of two charges. He has said he is appealing against the conviction.

While these moves are calculated to gain a tactical advantage, they are not without disadvantages.

For one thing, the WP gave up part of the ground it had been working since 2015, and in the process left some 130,000 voters in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights without a choice.

Mr Singh had explained in a social media post that it was a “very difficult decision” for the party, taken after electoral boundaries were redrawn and amid a resource constraint.

“After much reflection and careful consideration, we have determined that in order to continue fighting for the principles and changes we all believe in, and to give our candidates the best chance of electoral success, the party must focus its best efforts this GE on a smaller number of constituencies than we would have hoped to contest,” he wrote.

Yet, the fact that the decision had been taken at seemingly the eleventh hour attracted criticism from other opposition politicians, some of whom said they may have been able to rustle up a team for the constituency had they known.

In addition, some voters are suddenly seeing unfamiliar faces from both the WP and PAP, perhaps putting paid to the oft-heard argument by candidates about how they have been walking the ground and thus understand local issues.

PM Wong had explained that the decision to deploy DPM Gan to Punggol GRC was because a senior office-holder was needed to take over from SM Teo, and that this move would allow for better distribution of senior leadership across the island if the PAP were elected.

“We try our best not to have too many movements, but from time to time, we have to make some of these, and we have done so in this election.

“The ministers may be new, but they are not the only ones who are in the team. There are others in the GRC who will be familiar, and the ministers, I’m sure, will be able to hold their own wherever they are fielded,” he said.

He added that the PAP as a combined team would do its best to serve Singaporeans and secure a brighter future in a more uncertain, turbulent world.

Of course, strategising and tactical planning is par for the course in an election, and ambush politics has worked in the past.

Think 2011, when then WP chief Low Thia Khiang left Hougang to lead his party to victory in Aljunied GRC, and 2020, when DPM Heng was moved from Tampines GRC to successfully defend East Coast GRC.

But a good strategy does not mean a guaranteed win.Over the next week, advantages can be blunted and disadvantages overturned as the contest for votes starts anew.

The parties have immediately gotten to work, as seen by the overnight raising of banners and posters.

Whatever the outcome, what is clear is that proceedings on April 23 have injected a greater element of unpredictability to the political landscape in Singapore, perhaps to be expected as Singapore matures as a democracy.

As the dust settles on Nomination Day, the strategic gambits, the last-minute moves, and the unexpected walkover have set the stage for a high-stakes election.

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