According to party insiders and analysts, the Workers ‘ Party ( WP ) could contest the upcoming General Election in Singapore’s newly established Punggol GRC as well as constituencies in the long-standing stomping ground Tampines as part of a continued push for the eastern and northeast.
They claimed the opposition party had been campaigning in some of those two places for decades, even before the new electoral boundaries were made public on March 11.  ,
According to a group source with knowledge of activities, Yee Jenn Jong, a three-time GE member and former non-constituency member of parliament, and Ms. Frieda Chan, who ran for WP in the 2011 and 2015 elections, might be on the list.
Punggol West SMC, which WP contested in the previous election in 2020, as well as holdings in Punggol under the now-defunct Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, have been incorporated into the new four-member Punggol GRC.
Since group walkabout efforts have so far mainly exclude Pasir Ris areas, the source claimed that WP members thought that this carved out of Punggol into a new party representation constituency was positive.
CNA is aware that WP might also have a chance to target both Tampines GRC and the recently formed Tampines Changkat SMC.
The group contested at GE2020 in Sengkang, Aljunied, East Coast, and Marine Parade GRCs along with Hougang and Punggol West SMCs.
CNA has reached out to WP for opinion.
PUNGGOL POTENTIAL
Ms. Lee Li Lian of WP served as MP for Punggol East SMC from 2013 to 2015. Former PAP ( Pac Party ) MP Charles Chong, who won 51.8 % of the vote, edged her out in the 2015 election.
Punggol East SMC was merged with Sengkang GRC for GE2020, which the WP won with a majority of the vote.
In Punggol West SMC that year, WP also fielded Ms. Tan Chen Chen, but she received only 39 % of the vote in contrast to Sun Xueling of the PAP.
According to Dr. Mustafa Izzuddin from the Solaris Strategies firm, WP’s democratic development plan is based on a” adjacent strategy” spreading out from its Aljunied-Hougang “nerve center,” referring to the districts the group has held since 2011, both, in 2011 and 1991.
He predicts that Punggol will probably serve as the starting point for a” Sengkang Part II” between WP and PAP, which will be a close combat due to the “unpredictability of younger voters who tend to be undecided until they cast their vote on polling day.”