Punggol East: A hexagonal election?

The Singapore Democratic Party has become the latest opposition party to indicate their interest in contesting the vacated Punggol East seat at a press conference today. And if all those who have thrown their hats in the ring decide to go ahead, Punggol East residents will see a six-cornered fight in their constituency.

Before the SDP, four sides have already declared their interest in taking on the PAP. They are the Workers' Party, Reform Party, Singapore Democratic Alliance and ex-Singapore People's Party member Benjamin Pwee who may contest as an independent.

Benjamin Pwee's former party, SPP, and the National Solidarity Party have kindly declined the opportunity to contest in a possible by-election. Now, why the heck is there so much interest in a small little ward that only carved out in last year's election?

Conspiracy theories, here we go again. I managed to come up with a few which I think sounds good enough to be true.

A check on the elections department website indicates that the disgraced Michael Palmer of PAP won 54.54% of the vote in a three-cornered fight last year. WP's Lee Li Lian came in second with 41% of the votes while SDA's Desmond Lim aka The Extra garnered an impressive 4.45%.

Having seen a shift in voter preference in GE 2011, alternative parties are encouraged to work harder. Hence, with the possibility of a by-election rather high, these parties are confident that they can win due to the unconvincing amount of votes PAP garnered for Punggol East last year.

Michael Palmer has left the party and he left a stain on it. How often like this do opposition parties get the chance to throw bricks at the ruling party? Other than making the PAP look bad to the public, opposition candidates can also "market" themselves as well as their parties for the next GE.

In my opinion, WP is the only one that is eyeing the seat. The liberal parties, RP and SDP, are there to put forward their policies to Punggol East voters and Singaporeans at the same time. Win or lose, it doesn't matter much as long as they manage to get their message with the help of the media.

Unlike Hougang, which had a by-election earlier this year, Punggol East is not a stronghold of the Workers' Party. Moreover, during last year's polls, the party's main focus is certainly not in this constituency of approximately 31,000 electors. Lee Li Lian was (and still is) not one of WP's stars.

The WP also doesn't seem to have a strong candidate to field this time. If Lee Li Lian is the chosen one again, news of her as the party's candidate would have surfaced when WP announced its decision to contest just hours after Michael Palmer called it quits.

Clearly, the opportunity to contest as the non-PAP representative is up for grabs. No wonder Benjamin Pwee decided to join in the fun as well. I am wondering if Tan Jee Say (who is rather keen to participate in elections) or Tan Kin Lian (who seems to have a lot of cash to spare after losing his deposit at last year's presidential polls) will follow suit.

Last but not least, prime minister Lee Hsien Loong is still pondering over whether to call for a by-election or not. With so many parties declaring their interest, he might just call for one thinking that more parties means more splits among the non-PAP vote. However, only one candidate turns up on Nomination Day and thrashes his candidate in white on Polling Day.