GE2025: 3-way fight for Ang Mo Kio GRC, with PAP team led by SM Lee to face PPP and SUP

SINGAPORE: A three-cornered fight is set for Ang Mo Kio GRC, with the incumbent People’s Action Party (PAP) team led by Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong squaring off against the People’s Power Party (PPP) and the debutant Singapore United Party (SUP).

Candidates from the parties successfully filed their nomination papers at Deyi Secondary School on Wednesday (Apr 23). 

Addressing supporters, Mr Lee, 73, said: “This election is happening at a difficult time.” 

He added that there are many problems ahead that will affect “our lives, our jobs, our families, our futures”. 

Mr Lee, who first entered politics in 1984, said: "Vote for us again, vote for the team you can trust, so that we can work with you to keep Singapore safe, to move it forward, and to secure a brighter future for all of us.”

The PAP’s five-member line-up anchored by Mr Lee includes incumbent MPs Darryl David, 54, Nadia Samdin, 35, former senior civil servant Jasmin Lau, 41, and former Aljunied candidate Victor Lye, 63. 

“Singapore is about to step into a global future, where familiar rules will no longer hold steady,” said Ms Lau. 

“But as a country, we will hold steady with the power of our minds, our hearts, our strength and our votes, because this is a country worth fighting for, and this is a country worth uniting for.”

SUP secretary-general Andy Zhu, 42, will lead a team to contest in Ang Mo Kio GRC. Party chairman Ridhuan Chandran, 53, party treasurer Noraini Yunus, 57, flight attendant Nigel Ng, 39, and businessman Vincent Ng, 52, round out the party’s slate. 

Mr Zhu said his team is “dedicated to building a more just and equitable Singapore”, and will do this “together with the ruling party”.

Speaking to the media after his Nomination Day speech, he questioned the PPP for contesting the GRC.

"It is really going to be bad for the votes to be split, especially having a three-cornered fight, but I will be left confused with what led them (PPP) to carry on the fight," Mr Zhu said. 

"This is a three-cornered fight that should not have happened, as we have walked the ground for four years and before that, I was a contestant for Reform Party."

Mr Zhu had contested in the 2020 election under a Reform Party team, garnering 28.09 per cent of the vote against the PAP.

"So we have been walking the grounds for so long, and since the Singapore's United Party's inception, we have been paying visits to the residents," he said. 

The PPP line-up is helmed by party treasurer William Lim, 43. He will be joined by central executive committee member Samuel Lee, 33, retired civil servant Martinn Ho, 64, construction professional Thaddeus Thomas, 43, and horticulturist Heng Zheng Dao, 24.

Hitting back at Mr Zhu, Mr Ho said his party had already declared its interest in the GRC since March, and that SUP "came in last minute". 

"So it seems like they just want to kacau (Malay for disturb) us, you know? So I don't think that's fair to the People's Power Party," he said. 

Asked about Mr Zhu's point that he had previously contested the constituency under another party, team lead Mr Lim questioned if that argument held weight, given he is now contesting under a new party. 

"Nobody actually heard about SUP. It's a first-timer contesting," he added. "Whereas we are the third-timer... our brand will be stronger in Ang Mo Kio compared to SUP."

Ang Mo Kio GRC is set to remain the largest electoral division in this election, with 161,235 registered voters.