Four-cornered fight declared in Punggol East by-election on Jan 26

Photos: Bob Lee, Sebastian Song and xinmsn team


The Punggol East by-election on January 26 will be a four-way contest

At about 1pm today, Returning Officer Yam Ah Mee declared People’s Action Party's Koh Poh Koon, Reform Party's Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Singapore Democratic Alliance's Desmond Lim and Workers' Party's Lee Li Lian as candidates in the Punggol East by-election, set for January 26.

Independent candidate Ooi Boon Ewe bowed out after claiming that he had lost his nomination papers. When asked how his papers went missing, he replied, "Someone must have taken them."

Also out of running was another independent candidate Zeng GuoYuan, who walked out of the hall at about 11.10am, saying that he was not contesting.

With just 10 days left to Polling Day and Jan 25 being a Cooling-Off Day, candidates will have nine days of campaigning.

There are about 32,000 voters in the ward, which former MP Michael Palmer won in the 2011 General Election with nearly 54 per cent of the votes cast.