GE2020: PAP's Sun Xueling to face WP's Tan Chen Chen in Punggol West SMC

MEMBER of Parliament (MP) Sun Xueling of the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) will be facing newcomer Tan Chen Chen of the Workers' Party (WP) at the polls for the newly-carved out Punggol West SMC.

Punggol West SMC, formerly part of the Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, is home to 26,579 voters and many young families. The ward has been helmed by Ms Sun, who first stood in the 2015 elections.

Ms Sun, who is the Senior Parliamentary Secretary for Home Affairs and National Development, arrived at nomination centre St Anthony's Canossian Primary on Tuesday to defend her turf.

Meanwhile, WP sent in first-timer Ms Chen, 38, to stake its claim on the seat. The contracts administrator and trained quantity surveyor, who is married with a child, became a volunteer with WP after the 2015 General Election.

WP had said that it would be contesting in six constituencies including Punggol West. The party had, however, kept mum on its pick to contest the new SMC until Nomination Day.

Even though the Peoples Voice (PV) party leader Lim Tean had earlier made known his intention for the party to compete in Punggol West, PV did not field a candidate in the end.

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Mr Lim had said that PV would contest in five constituencies. Aside from Punggol West, it was also aiming for single seats Pioneer and Mountbatten, as well as Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC and Jalan Besar GRC.

This could be seen as a move to prevent the loss of the election deposit of S$13,500. A three-cornered fight ups the risk of a loss, as the nominee has to secure at least 12.5 per cent of the votes to get this deposit back.

In 2015, PAP won Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC with 72.89 per cent of the votes while the Singapore Democratic Alliance took a 27.11 per cent share.

The team was comprised then-Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean, Teo Ser Luck, Zainal Sapari, Janil Puthucheary, Ng Chee Meng and Ms Sun.

Singapore goes to the polls on July 10.

For Nomination Day developments and more on Singapore GE2020, go to bt.sg/ge2020