Punggol East Single Member Constituency

Punggol East Single Member Constituency was a single member constituency (SMC) located in the north-eastern area of Singapore.

Punggol East
Former Single Member constituency
for the Parliament of Singapore
RegionNortheastern Singapore
Electorate35,436
Former constituency
Created2011
Abolished2020
Seats1
Member(s)Constituency Abolished
Town CouncilPasir Ris–Punggol
Aljuined–Hougang–Punggol East
Created fromPasir Ris–Punggol GRC
Cheng San GRC
Replaced bySengkang GRC

Following the release of the Electoral Boundaries Review committee report for the 2020 general elections, Punggol East SMC was merged into the 4-member Sengkang Group Representation Constituency (GRC).[1]

History

Punggol East SMC was the sole constituency to feature a three-cornered contest for the election. The election was won by People's Action Party's Michael Palmer, who was the incumbent MP of the ward with 54.54% of the votes, beating Workers' Party's newcomer Lee Li Lian and Singapore Democratic Alliance's secretary-general Desmond Lim, who garnered 41.01% and 4.45% of the votes, respectively in the 2011 general election. As Lim has garnered less than the 12.5% vote threshold, his election deposit was forfeited by the election department.

Following Palmer's resignation on December,[2][3] the ward was placed in the care of Teo Ser Luck.[4] On 9 January 2013, a By-Election 2013 for the ward was announced to be held on 26 January.[5] On 10 January, PAP unveiled their candidate for the by-election, Dr Koh Poh Koon, while both WP's Lee and SDA's Lim had returned to contest the by-election. The election also featured a fourth candidate, the Secretary-general of Reform Party, Kenneth Jeyaretnam.

There were two rounds of rallies in this by-election, Workers' Party's rally drew the most audiences amounting ranging 5,000 to 12,000 audiences, while Singapore Democratic Alliance using the social media and technology to draw audiences via a series of videos posted to YouTube.

During the vote counting, SDA's Desmond Lim officially conceded defeat.[6] Jeyaretnam and Lim both lost their election deposit in this by-election. At 0.57%, Lim also set a record for the lowest percentage garnered in an election since post-independence Singapore.[7]

WP's Lee won the by-election for the party with 16,038 votes, or 54.52% (Including overseas votes, the percentage of valid votes cast were 54.50%, or 16,045 votes), marking the second by-election where an opposition had won a parliament seat from the ruling party. She was sworn in at the Parliament on 4 February 2013, and held her Meet-The-People session on the same day.[8] After Lee's victory of the SMC, Aljunied-Hougang Town Council went for a merger with Punggol East to achieve economics of scale named Aljunied-Hougang-Punggol East Town Council.

During the 2015 general election, Lee went to defend her seat but lost to PAP's Charles Chong with 48.24% of the votes.

During the 2020 general election, the ward was absorbed into a new Sengkang GRC for the 2020 general election, after the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) released its report on 13 March 2020. Sengkang GRC was won by WP, putting the area back in the hands of WP. After the election, the area division was renamed "Rivervale" by WP and "Sengkang East" by PAP.[9]

Member of Parliament
YearIncumbentParty
2011 Michael PalmerPAP
2013Lee Li LianWP
2015Charles ChongPAP

Electoral results

Elections in 2010s
General Election 2011: Punggol East
Party Candidate Votes %
PAP Michael Palmer 16,994 54.54
WP Lee Li Lian 12,777 41.01
SDA Desmond Lim 1,387 4.45
Majority 3,170 10.77
Registered electors {{{reg. electors}}}
Turnout 31,709 95.3
PAP win (new seat)
By-Election 2013: Punggol East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
WP Lee Li Lian 16,045 54.50 Increase13.49
PAP Koh Poh Koon 12,875 43.73 N/A
RP Kenneth Jeyaretnam 353 1.20 N/A
SDA Desmond Lim 168 0.57 Decrease3.88
Majority 3,170 10.77 Decrease2.76
Registered electors 31,659 Decrease4.9%
Rejected ballots 418 1.40 Decrease0.3
Turnout 29,859 94.31 -0.99
WP gain from PAP Swing Increase13.49
General Election 2015: Punggol East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
PAP Charles Chong 16,957 51.76 Increase8.03
WP Lee Li Lian 15,801 48.24 Decrease6.26
Majority 1,156 3.52
Registered electors 34,466
Rejected ballots 379 1.14 Decrease0.26
Turnout 33,137 96.14 Increase1.83
PAP gain from WP Swing Increase8.03

References
  1. "More electoral divisions, no 6-member GRCs in coming election: EBRC report". CNA. Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  2. Tan, Judith; The New Paper (15 December 2012). "SMSes expose Michael Palmer's affair". Archived from the original on 18 December 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  3. "Laura Ong's husband: She is a good wife". AsiaOne. 13 December 2012. Archived from the original on 16 December 2012. Retrieved 9 January 2013.
  4. "Teo Ser Luck 'not close' to woman in affair". www.asiaone.com. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  5. "Punggol East by-election on 26 Jan". CNA. Retrieved 8 July 2021.
  6. "SDA's Lim concedes defeat". Channel NewsAsia. 26 January 2013.
  7. "SDA scores worst result in post-independence history". www.asiaone.com.
  8. "WP's Lee Li Lian holds first Meet-the-People session". Channel NewsAsia. 4 February 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2013.
  9. "More electoral divisions, no 6-member GRCs in coming election: EBRC report". CNA. Retrieved 13 March 2020.

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