PUBLISHED ONMarch 26, 2025 4:25 AMByDana LeongWorkers' Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh has urged Singaporeans to work towards creating "a more balanced political system" in the upcoming General Election, in response to the release of the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) report.
The report, he said, outlined "one of the most radical redrawing of boundaries Singapore has seen in recent memory".
In a Facebook post shared on Tuesday (March 25), Singh questioned the fairness of the EBRC report, noting that there has been "significant public commentary, especially by young Singaporeans" regarding the redrawing of political boundaries.
Singh labelled the EBRC an "opaque" institution and highlighted the incredulity surrounding "population growth" being cited as one of the reasons behind the redrawing of boundaries.
"Boundaries are important, and the reasons that justify their changes, matter. A lot," he added.
Only five GRCs and four SMCs were left unchanged from the last election.
Other opposition parties, such as the Progress Singapore Party and the National Solidarity Party, have also expressed their disappointment in the changes made.
Singh noted a comment made by then-Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong during the Bukit Batok by-election in 2016, where he said that People's Action Party (PAP) candidate Murali Pillai would have already been a member of parliament from GE2015 had his division been an SMC, rather than a part of Aljunied GRC.
Murali, who stood for election in Aljunied GRC during GE2015, received more votes in his division than WP did, although the PAP team eventually lost with 49.05 per cent of the vote.
"Apart from highlighting that no opposition constituency is a safe seat and the risk of an opposition wipe-out is an ever-existent reality, Lee's revelation was instructive. The results of individual wards and precincts, even in GRCs, are closely watched," said Singh.
He also pointed out how 15 precincts from the former Marine Parade GRC have been moved to East Coast GRC following the updated report.
In 2020, East Coast's PAP slate won 53.39 per cent of the vote against a WP team, making it the second-worst performing GRC won by the ruling party.
"Perhaps the former PM or someone from the PAP can make that information public too, and allow the public to draw its own conclusions," added Singh, calling for greater transparency.
Singh also cited the Forward Singapore report, which reportedly upholds fairness as a shared value.
He argued that such values of fairness can lose meaning, especially when "question marks about fairness abound right from square one, on an issue as fundamental as how we organise ourselves politically as a nation".
While noting that the work of the EBRC is "meaningful", he cautioned against the "real risk of being unwittingly divisive, putting paid to a united people – ironically, one that is needed most at a time of important geopolitical shifts, potential external shocks and demographic transition".
"All the latest version of the EBRC report does, is to show us how much further we have to go to build a democratic society, based on justice and equality. But each generation can and must do its part. And become one united people," he said.
Independent political observer Dr Felix Tan, in a CNA report earlier this month, said then that changes to the electoral boundaries brought "no huge surprises".
He added that most of the boundaries were redrawn because of the changing number of voters within the constituencies.
However, he highlighted the significant changes to certain constituencies, including how Jurong GRC was divided into different constituencies in an interview with AsiaOne, including the newly created Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC, the new five-member West Coast-Jurong West GRC, the new Jurong Central SMC, and the existing Holland-Bukit Timah GRC.
"The naming of the constituencies better reflect the areas that they have subsumed," he said.
"This reflects the existence of a different set of identities that might define some of these areas now being included into a larger GRC."
For more original AsiaOne articles, visit here.
