6 Results We Can’t Wait To Find On Election Night

On the night of 11 September 2015, most Singaporeans will be glued to their television sets, as we eagerly await the results of the General Elections (GE) 2015 and how our fellow Singaporeans have voted.

Due to the progress of social media since the last two GEs, and other influential online publishers such as The Online Citizen, Mothership.sg & Vulcan Post, coverage of this GE has been at an unprecedented scale. This would no doubt have translated to a spike in our collective interest on how certain results pan out. Here is a list of our top 6 Can’t-wait-to-sees.

Number 6: Will PAP’s death squad make a difference at the polls?

After Aljunied became Aljunied, we think a stronger PAP team would have been needed to wrest this GRC back. By not putting any office holders or leading PAP members, we can only assume that even the PAP has given this one up. At the same time, we can appreciate the risk on PAP’s part to put a key MP in the fight for this GRC. Also, we doubt any senior figure within the PAP would have relished being put into this fight.

The status quo seems to be a mutually acceptable outcome for this GRC.

Number 5: Will Chee Soon Juan shock Vivian Balakrishnan At Holland-Bukit Timah GRC?

Last week, we covered how Chee Soon Juan came out a “winner” during the Nomination Day simply because his participation at this year’s election would raise the level of passion, and heat, of everyone involved. Thus far, we have not been disappointed.

While Vivian Balakrishnam has held his own to some extent, the same cannot be said for his teammates, especially Sim Ann, who felt the (unnecessary) need to take personal swipes at Mr Chee. We do not think Singaporeans want to see our ministers, especially one that portray themselves as “clean”, to be involved with low-level politicking. Most Singaporeans are educated enough to want to see solutions put forward.

It appears that Mr Chee and his eloquent and passionate speeches have been garnering a lot more interest from Singaporeans, both young and old, than what most people had originally anticipated, probably more than what even PAP was prepared for.

It does seem Dr Chee has evolved his brand of politics in this new digital age, his technology-savvy campaign has been quite effective communicating with Singaporeans. His speeches are worth watching and listening to.

While Vivian Balakrishnam managed to win 60% of the votes in the last GE, a very different GE awaits him this time round. If he loses in his GRC, it will go down in the Singapore history books as one of the biggest shocks ever. Yet for some reason, many wouldn’t be so surprised if that is relayed on the television screen at some point on the night of 11 September.

Number 4: Will Reform Party be the first ever party to lose their election deposit in a 1-on-1 fight?

Many people have told us that it is impossible to lose your election deposit when it is a 1-on-1 contest at a GRC or SMC, since you only need 12.5% of the votes to get your election deposit back.

Putting this theory to the test is none other than the formidable team put forward by Reform Party (irony of the party name) led by the outspoken M Ravi, activist Gilbert Goh and blogger Roy Ngerng.

If this team does go on to win enough votes to get their election deposit back, we should all take a step back and ponder how PAP managed to not engage over 12.5% of their voters in that GRC. To help them recoup their deposit, remember to vote for PAP!, oh we mean, Reform Party…

Number 3: Can Han Hui Hui even get 100 votes? 

In the 2013 Punggol East by-elections, Desmond Lim won 168 votes. At the time, it seemed a real joke. Fast forward to GE 2015, and we’re wondering if a candidate could manage to win even less votes. Will at least 168 residents in Radin Mas vote for Han Hui Hui?

Radin Mas is a similar size SMC to Punggol East so there is no reason why Han Hui Hui should be doing better than Desmond Lim.

Number 2: Can Lina Chiam Win Back Potong Pasir? 

114. That is the number of additional votes SPP’s Lina Chiam needed to keep Potong Pasir SMC in opposition control. This number seems even more insignificant, when you consider the fact that more than 1,200 people on the electoral from the constituency did not cast their votes or cast a spoilt vote.

Has PAP-backed Sitoh Yi Pin won enough of the ground since the last GE?  This is going to come down to the wire.

Number 1: Who Will Win East Coast GRC?

The East Coast GRC was the GRC that performed the worst among winning PAP’s GRCs in the last election for the PAP with 54.8% of the votes. (note we’re just taking GRCs into consideration here). Aljunied is still fresh in our minds, could it happen again?

This time around, East Coast GRC voters will have an extremely difficult choice ahead of them. On one hand, they have a team led by Gerald Giam. The other members on his team look equally capable with Daniel Goh, who, along with his wife, basically won the PR battle against mainstream media and Leon Perera, a government scholar from Oxford University.

The incumbent is led by the veteran MP Lim Swee Say and the early speculation from people is that his GRC could be this year’s Aljunied.

Interestingly, there is also a significant age gap between the two groups of candidates. The average age of the PAP candidates is 53.25, while the age of the WP candidates are an average of 39. The youngest candidate from the PAP in East Coast GRC is Jessica Tan, who is already 49, while the oldest candidate from the WP team is Leon Perera who is 44. Talk about a young vs old battle. This is like the World Cup Finals; someone is going to be badly disappointed.

Do you agree with our list? Which of these results are you most looking forward to? What else is missing? Share with us your thoughts on Facebook.

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