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In 2020, Singapore saw a third party enter Parliament, with the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) securing two Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) seats after narrowly losing to the People’s Action Party (PAP) in the tightly contested West Coast GRC.
This year, another surprise could be in the works, as the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) is aiming to end its nearly 30-year absence from Parliament.
It put up a strong showing last time—Secretary-General Chee Soon Juan garnered over 45% of the vote in Bukit Batok SMC, while Chairman Paul Tambyah did even better with 46.27% in Bukit Panjang.
An early blow came when Bukit Batok was removed from the electoral map, but Chee’s move to Sembawang West still leaves him with a shot.
Two seats in contention
SDP is fielding 11 candidates across four constituencies for GE2025, but a win in Marsiling-Yew Tee—held by Lawrence Wong—or in the three-way battle in Sembawang, against Minister Ong Ye Kung’s team and the National Solidarity Party (NSP), looks like a long shot, especially with the opposition vote likely to split.
This is likely why SDP’s top two—Chee in Sembawang West and Tambyah in Bukit Panjang—are both contesting in single-member constituencies, setting up direct, one-on-one fights with PAP candidates.
After earlier, underwhelming attempts to take on GRCs, the party shifted tactics a decade ago—and saw their results improve.
In 2015, their team in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC managed to secure just 33% of the vote. But five years later, individual performances jumped by more than 10 percentage points.
This time, Paul Tambyah is aiming to narrow that gap even further in a rematch against PAP’s Liang Eng Hwa, who won the last round with a slim 7.46% majority.
Chee Soon Juan’s strategy is harder to read, but his trajectory has been upward—from 38% in his 2016 by-election debut against Murali Pillai, to 45.20% in 2020.
With his former constituency dissolved, Chee Soon Juan has moved to Sembawang West, where he’s up against a relatively new face in the PAP lineup: Poh Li San—a former aide-de-camp to President S.R. Nathan and RSAF helicopter pilot, who entered Parliament as a Sembawang GRC MP in 2020.
Though she heads the PAP’s Sembawang West branch and was a grassroots volunteer in the area before becoming an MP, this will be Poh Li San’s first time running as a standalone candidate, against a well-known, if thus far unsuccessful, opposition figure.
It could be a tight race.
Direct victory is not necessary
What’s important to note is that neither of SDP’s frontrunners needs to win outright to enter Parliament. Under the NCMP scheme, opposition parties are guaranteed at least 12 seats, even if they don’t win any constituencies directly.
In 2020, after the Workers’ Party secured 10 elected seats, the Progress Singapore Party filled the remaining two NCMP spots thanks to its narrow loss to the PAP in West Coast GRC.
However, neither party can be certain of retaining those positions. WP’s team in Sengkang has been shaken by the Raeesah Khan scandal, while PSP’s Leong Mun Wai was hit with a POFMA correction order last year.
Tan Cheng Bock’s support for outsider Tan Kin Lian in the 2023 presidential race may not have helped either, even as the PAP contends with the fallout from the S. Iswaran scandal.
If other opposition parties falter, it could open the door for either Chee Soon Juan or Paul Tambyah to clinch at least one NCMP seat, especially if their contests against the PAP are tighter than before.
In fact, both came close to meeting the threshold for best-performing losing candidates five years ago.
While most attention is on the Workers’ Party’s showdown with the PAP (some eyes are turning to the West too, to see if PSP can outperform its last showing), the Singapore Democratic Party shouldn’t be counted out for a surprise of its own.
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Featured Image Credit: The Singapore Democratic Party/ Graphic designed by Vulcan Post