Twists and turns on Nomination Day set stage for high-stakes election

Senior Political Correspondent

- Tham Yuen-C

April 23, 2025, will go down as one of the most dramatic nomination days in recent memory, with both the PAP and the WP unveiling unexpected last-minute moves.

Leading up to the day, the PAP had introduced its slates in most constituencies, save for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights, East Coast and Punggol GRCs, while the WP had unveiled 14 political hopefuls, declining to say where most of them would be fielded and even which constituencies it would contest.

WP chief Pritam Singh, asked about this at a press conference, said: "Has the PAP introduced its people in Marine Parade and East Coast officially yet? They have been very coy about the final line-up, right? "There are no coincidences to that coyness." And so the stage was set for a game of bluff and counter-bluff.

No wonder then, that what finally came on Nomination Day was more exciting than what in the past would typically have been a staid affair.

The WP would wait until the last possible moment to confirm its slate.

Not only did the party move Aljunied GRC stalwart Faisal Manap to Tampines GRC into a four-cornered fight, it also fielded one of its more prominent new candidates, lawyer Harpreet Singh Nehal, in Punggol GRC, instead of East Coast GRC where he had been spotted.

Some were stunned at the WP no-show at Kong Hwa School, the nomination centre for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.

Even WP supporters who had turned up were caught unawares.

By the time nominations closed, the party had not sent a team there, and the constituency became the only one with a walkover this election, and the first since 2011.

On the PAP front, it was widely expected that the party would have on standby heavyweight ministers who could be moved to constituencies considered under threat.