03/09/2015

GE2015: The Game Is On

THIS morning, I took a walk from my house to the nearest Nomination Centre, at Fengshan Primary School. I just wanted to kaypoh. Media people were already parked outside the gates although it was just 9am, two hours before the deadline for the filing of Nomination forms. Sgt Ashiok and Edward D’Susah were already there. I wandered around a bit, knowing that I would find the PAP somewhere nearby.

There must be a party branch nearby. They were easily found, a sea of white at Block 408 along Bedok North Road. The candidates from East Coast GRC, Fengshan and Punggol East SMCs were “inside”, I was told. The PAP contingent standing around, some with tambourines, some with placards at the ready. On the way, I saw a car with Workers’ Party supporters in their blue tee-shirts turn into a carpark.

So. Nomination Day is here. All 89 seats are being contested. Confirmed. There were a few three-cornered fights: three. Most of the candidates went where they said they would go, except for a few teams fielded by the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) in Bukit Batok and Marsiling Yew-Tee. Ms Nadine Yap, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), did not show to contest Bishan-Toa Payoh. This was perhaps expected since the party dropped her from its line-up last week, even though the Harvard graduate has been viewed as one of the stronger candidates from the Opposition in this election.

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Cliffhanger

A rejuvenated PM Lee Hsien Loong has finally come to terms with his inner self and has called a general election for 11 September 2015 which has been eagerly expected.  Today is Nomination Day and as expected the PAP is contesting all 89 seats. The Workers' party has nominated candidates for 28 seats and forms the biggest majority among the opposition parties.

This election is mainly a cliffhanger between the PAP and the Workers' Party, which won a GRC and two SMCs in the last election in 2011. The PAP has not really recovered from the humiliation of its defeat at the hands of the WP in Aljunied GRC in GE 2011. It is still smarting from the defeat and has reluctantly put up a token team to contest the Aljunied GRC in GE 2015. A brash DPM Thaman Shamugaratnam, who introduced the team, had the temerity to say that they have a fighting chance of recapturing the GRC, but then it is glaringly conspicuous that they are terrified in putting a minister, who is more eminent than the humbled George Yeo, as an anchor minister to lead the team. Instead an expendable Yeo Guat Kwang is put up as a sacrificial lamb to anchor the team.

Now we come to the antics of the great inimitable ESM Goh Chok Tong who is a member to the PAP team contesting the Marine Parade GRC. ESM Goh is obviously over the hill and shows senility by his delirious utterance describing the WP as "nomads out to plunder". WP's foray into Marine Parade GRC has obviously caused him numerous nightmares for him to be irrational in his speech.  In view of the result of the last election in 2011 in Marine Parade GRC in which the PAP scrapped through with a razor-thin margin against the National Solidarity Party, it really scares the shit out of ESM Goh that the PAP is in danger of succumbing to a formidable WP team. Very wisely he volunteered the anchoring of the PAP team to an unsuspecting Tan Chuan Jin as he would not want to be shown to be the anchorman in the remote possibility of a PAP defeat. So glamour boy Tan Chuan Jin may carry the honour of becoming the fall guy.


A Vote for Change

– Inconvenient Questions: Party or the person?
– Akikonomu: Modelling the 2015 Singapore general election I
– Six-Six: Hasty Hustings
– Blogging 4 Myself: GE 2015: Getting that 5% to cross over
– Anyhow Hantam: Lesson 4 Sporeans – Give Up Social Justice Economic Justice
– Air-Conditioned Nation: PAP Strategy
– Singapore 2B: PAP’s strategy for 2015
– The Singapore Beacon: PAP – More Of The Same
– Javert’s World: PAP saying the same things… again and again and again
– Five Stars and a Moon: Hi PAP, why should we hire you?
– Bryan Huang: GE2015: An Aljunied GRC resident on life under The Workers’ Party
– Rise of The Strawberry Nation: Conversation with a Joo Chiat resident
– In My Words…: Great Entertainment (GE) 2015
– Alvinology: GE2015: Radin Mas – where the trolls gather
– Think For Me, Singapore: Vote this fool out! (VB edition)
– Working With Grace: GE2015: “Grace Tan Is An Opposition Supporter?”
– Tots of a Cynical Investor: Perils of only reading TOC/ Will Ravi change mind again?
– Yauming: The role of the Opposition in Govt
– 否极泰来 Piji Tailai: Even PAP Vote reduces to 55%, Oppo could still hold 7 seats.
– Singapore Notes: Today Is Nomination Day
– New Nation: Sporeans look to voting in leaders to rule & ruin their lives for next 5 yrs


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