Opposition parties upset that WP pulled out of Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC

Several opposition parties have expressed displeasure with WP for not contesting Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, leading to an unexpected walkover, the first at a general election since 2011.

- Esther Loi

WP was expected to field a team in this constituency, as it had contested Marine Parade GRC in 2020 and won 42.26 per cent of the vote.

Hours after a five-member PAP team in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC won unopposed on April 23, some opposition parties took to social media or spoke to media outlets to voice their opinions.

Mr Goh Meng Seng, 55, secretary-general of People's Power Party (PPP), said in a Facebook post: "WP was the last-minute spoiler party, (who was) willing to sacrifice 130,000 voters' rights in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights, just to get into a four-cornered fight!"

This four-cornered fight will take place in Tampines GRC, where the WP, PPP and National Solidarity Party (NSP) will go up against the incumbent PAP team led by Social and Family Development Minister Masagos Zulkifli.

Similarly, PPP chairman Derrick Sim said he could not believe that WP had pulled out from Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, adding that his team was "dumbfounded".

In a Facebook post on April 23, Mr Sim, 44, noted that WP had never contested in Tampines since the GRC was formed in 1988, while it had consistently contested and walked the ground in Marine Parade for more than a decade.