Election spotlight: Marsiling-Yew Tee All eyes on PM Wong's home turf

In his first election as prime minister, Mr Lawrence Wong's four-member constituency of Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC is one to watch, simply because it is the PM's turf. The Straits Times dives into the issues on the ground and looks at how the 10-year-old GRC is solidifying as a northern PAP stronghold.

- Anjali Raguraman

On a balmy night 10 months ago, sleepy Yew Tee came to life when over 1,000 residents gathered in the district under a giant tent to watch their MP being sworn in as Singapore's fourth prime minister.

The buzzy atmosphere crescendoed when the newly minted Prime Minister Lawrence Wong arrived from the Istana at about 10.30pm, gave a speech, and stayed for half an hour to greet residents and take selfies.

PM Wong's personal popularity was clear when The Straits Times spoke to Marsiling-Yew Tee residents, with virtually all of them confident that his PAP team would win comfortably at the coming general election.

This is especially so given that the young constituency, which is facing only its third electoral contest, is now led by a sitting prime minister.

In 2020, the PAP retained the GRC with 63.18 per cent of the votes against the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP), above the ruling party's national average of 61.24 per cent.

But exactly how well the constituency polls for the PAP at GE2025 will be closely watched, not just by residents but also the rest of Singapore and political observers.

"This is because our head of government still has to draw his authority from his local constituents in parliamentary elections," said Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) senior research fellow Gillian Koh.

In a nutshell, citizens expect that PM Wong and his team "do as well locally, as his party does nationally", she added.

Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan noted: "Marsiling-Yew Tee is also a constituency to watch as a barometer of how the ruling party will campaign, and how much time PM Wong devotes to campaigning in the constituency given that he also has to campaign for his party colleagues across the island."