Singapore GE2025 election ground game continues

SINGAPORE – Runs around the constituency, monthly breakfasts and newsletter sales – politicians are still a regular sight in previously hotly contested wards as they continue working the ground a year on from GE2025.

When The Straits Times visited Jalan Kayu SMC, Tampines GRC, Sembawang West SMC and Punggol GRC – which had the fiercest contests at GE2025 – residents said PAP’s winning MPs and some of the opposition’s unsuccessful candidates have, over the last year, built new routine engagements.

Among the 100 residents that The Straits Times spoke to, some said these engagements have allowed them to find out more about their MPs’ perspectives on current affairs or to get familiar with new faces.

Analysts said they expect to see competitive contests in these four wards again, come the next election.

They also said the PAP’s first-term MPs as well as some of its stalwarts who have moved into new constituencies have stepped up efforts to meet their new residents.

Two of the PAP’s reserve candidates from GE2025 have also been seen in Tampines and Punggol since the polls. In-house lawyer Ahmad Firdaus Daud, who previously volunteered in Nee Soon GRC, is now vice-chair of the Punggol North PAP branch, while entrepreneur Mustaffa Kamal has been seen with the party’s Tampines Central branch. He was previously in Joo Chiat.

Ms Nydia Ngiow, managing director at strategic advisory firm BowerGroupAsia Singapore, said the PAP has internalised lessons from the close contests in these mature, middle-income estates. This is seen in the changes in its branches.

Meanwhile, for the three contested by the Workers’ Party – Jalan Kayu, Tampines and Punggol – analysts see this continued groundwork as an extension of the WP’s strategy which the party has said contributed to the winning of the three wards it already holds in the north-east of Singapore.

It signals that they view their efforts in these constituencies as an investment for the long term, said Ms Ngiow.

Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan said that going by the activity on the ground, the relatively narrow wins by the PAP mean that the opposition parties that contested in those wards will rate their chances of snagging a victory in the next election well.

Two WP candidates from Jalan Kayu and Tampines – Mr Andre Low and Ms Eileen Chong – are also now in Parliament under the Non-Constituency MP scheme. This has given them more time in the public eye, noted Ms Ngiow. “This is the closest both can get to an incumbent’s advantage without actually winning,” she said.

In Tampines, new MPs like Acting Minister for Culture, Community and Youth David Neo have continued traditions started by their predecessors. Mr Neo, a former army chief, has continued his GRC-mate Baey Yam Keng’s monthly “Kopitalk” in Tampines North.

There, he gives residents updates on the constituency and engages with them on various issues in a coffee shop setting – which has been positively received by residents such as engineer Bala Subramaniam, 53.

Mr Subramaniam said these chats in an informal setting are a continuation of the “personal touch” the ward’s previous MP Mr Baey had with residents. Mr Baey, who is Minister of State for Transport and Culture, Community and Youth, moved after the election to helm the new Tampines Boulevard ward, also within the GRC.

Meanwhile, the WP – which got 47.37 per cent of the vote – has continued selling its Hammer newsletter in the constituency. Its Tampines GRC team, including Ms Chong, has continued outreach in the area. It has also conducted “combined visits” in Tampines, where its candidates from other constituencies such as Punggol and East Coast come together for walkabouts.

Jalan Kayu was the closest contest in the election, where labour chief Ng Chee Meng won with 51.47 per cent of the vote to Mr Low’s 48.53 per cent. A new single-member constituency (SMC) at GE2025, the ward was carved out of Ang Mo Kio GRC. The ward’s previous MP was Mr Gan Thiam Poh, who retired before GE2025.

Residents told ST that both Mr Ng and Mr Low have been active on the ground. Retiree Poh Lye Choo, 63, saw Mr Low during a Chinese New Year visit in 2026, while others like optometrist Eric Goh, 44, said Mr Ng has been building on Mr Gan’s work.

This includes working on infrastructure upgrades in the relatively new estate – an issue cited by many residents as of great importance to them. Mr Ng has made a string of infrastructure announcements since the election, including more sheltered walkways and shuttle buses while the area’s rail network is under construction.

The nearby Punggol GRC also saw a strong contest from the WP, which got 44.83 per cent of the vote versus a team helmed by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong.

DPM Gan had, in a surprise move, shifted from Chua Chu Kang – where he was MP since 2006 – to helm the newly formed Punggol GRC. He has since started regular meet-ups with residents, including a series known as “Date with Gan Kim Yong” where he eats dinner with families in the constituency. The programme concluded in April and DPM Gan has said he will announce a new series soon.

WP’s Punggol team, which included senior counsel Harpreet Singh Nehal, has also kept up engagements, organising a community walk and run in the coastal constituency every last Saturday of the month. The team is also organising nature walks for Punggol residents outside the constituency, including one in Dairy Farm held in April.

One Punggol resident, a 53-year-old IT manager who gave his name as Michael, said communication on municipal issues has improved since the general election, and a WhatsApp group has been set up by the incumbent’s grassroots teams to address issues in the block. He also cited the popularity of Ms Sun Xueling in the constituency.

Ms Sun is Senior Minister of State for Transport and National Development, and has represented Punggol since 2015.

Ms Ngiow noted DPM Gan’s increased grassroots efforts in his new district, saying that he “has only grown more popular” there. But whether Punggol “hardens into a genuinely competitive GRC” depends on both parties’ candidates and whether DPM Gan will stand again. DPM Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry, is 67 and has been in politics since 2001.

Sembawang West is another constituency whose competitiveness depends on whether candidates from GE2025 run again, Ms Ngiow noted.

There, Singapore Democratic Party chief Chee Soon Juan bucked his party’s results across other constituencies and received 46.82 per cent against the PAP’s Poh Li San in the newly carved out SMC.

Ms Poh has set up monthly informal brunch sessions with her residents at the Koufu foodcourt near Woodlands Mart, a move that some residents like 44-year-old homemaker Madam Nury cited as a good platform to get familiar with her.

Dr Chee’s social media shows a walkabout near Woodlands Mart in December 2025 during the Christmas period. “If he commits to sustained residency-based engagement, it could be competitive,” said Ms Ngiow.

But while groundwork counts for some residents, seeing one’s MP often is less crucial for others. Said Jalan Kayu resident Mr Goh: “The opposition as well as Mr Ng have their day jobs. For myself the regular Meet-the-People sessions are good enough – if there are any issues, I will look for them.”

WP has not always contested every constituency where it has done ground work. At GE2025, it did not contest Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC – parts of which its candidates had walked since contesting in GE2020 – citing changes to electoral boundaries.

For many voters, national issues like the cost of living rather than constituency-based ones remain top of mind. Retiree Theresa Ng, 65, who lives in Tampines, said that while she believes the Government has been doing a good job overall, inflation has been a worry.

Sembawang West resident Ms Lee said everybody’s mind is on the cost of living and healthcare. “I hope the Government will do more on healthcare, more subsidies, lower the cost. Especially since we have an ageing population.”

For the wards that saw PAP face off with WP, national issues will matter immensely, said SMU’s Associate Professor Tan.

“The PAP won’t want any local unhappiness or appeal of the opposition to be amplified by unhappiness over national issues – be it cost of living concerns or uncertainty over how artificial intelligence is going to affect livelihoods,” he said.

He added that the more pertinent question is whether parties can sustain this level of ground work for the next three to four years before the next election due by 2030. “It would require hard work, resources, ideas, and belief that victory is just over the electoral horizon. Even then, victory is not guaranteed.”

While it is important to continue engaging the residents, political parties would also want to ensure that they do not get burnout or overdo to the extent of it becoming counterproductive, said Dr Mustafa Izzuddin, a senior international affairs analyst at Solaris Strategies Singapore.

As parties are aware that walking the ground is crucial to winning elections, they will space out their walkabouts in a strategic fashion and increase progressively closer to the polls, he said.

He added that it was clear from the last election that as long as the wards are contested by PAP and WP, a close and tough fight would be expected. “I foresee this trend continuing in Singapore’s evolving political landscape to the unfortunate detriment of other political parties.”

The competition in these wards could also become a signal of a greater shift in how Singapore politics is conducted.

Ms Ngiow said: “Singapore is edging towards a system where a small number of wards function as genuinely competitive political markets.

“That may mean that the incumbent may govern with an eye towards specific constituencies that function as rolling referenda on its performance.”