Will PAP's grip hold in newly created Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC?

With battle lines redrawn and significant changes to many constituencies, which will be the ones under the spotlight in GE2025? The Straits Times dives into the issues and concerns on the ground, in the newly created Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.

- Hariz Baharudin and Lee Li Ying

Jurong GRC, long regarded as a stronghold of the PAP, will disappear from the electoral map in its current form.

Its 132,272 voters will be redistributed across multiple constituencies, with the majority—62,424, or about 47 per cent—forming the core of the newly created Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.

This five-member group representation constituency, which will also absorb all of Bukit Batok SMC and parts of Yuhua SMC and Hong Kah North SMC, will have a total of 142,510 voters.

The remaining voters from Jurong GRC will be divided among three other constituencies: the new West Coast-Jurong West GRC, the new Jurong Central SMC, and the existing Holland-Bukit Timah GRC.

Jurong GRC has consistently been the People's Action Party's best-performing constituency in recent elections, securing a commanding 79.29 per cent of the vote in the 2015 General Election and 74.61 per cent in the 2020 General Election.

The formation of Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC throws up questions about how the contest there will play out, including whom the PAP will choose to lead the new team and how they will consolidate support among voters from different constituencies.

The redrawn boundaries could also set the stage for a more competitive contest, with the possibility of a multi-cornered fight. Opposition parties that have previously contested in wards there may see an opportunity to make inroads, testing the PAP's ability to retain its dominance.

At the heart of it all is the biggest question—whether Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC can uphold Jurong's track record as PAP's strongest-performing constituency.

HOW THE BATTLE WILL SHAPE UP

A key figure behind Jurong GRC's strong electoral performance was President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who served as an MP in the constituency for over two decades.