Punggol East by—election set to be 4—way fight

SINGAPORE: The by—election in Punggol East is set to be a four—cornered fight.

When nominations closed at noon on Wednesday, Ms Lee Li Lian of the Workers’ Party (WP), Dr Koh Poh Koon of the People’s Action Party (PAP), Mr Kenneth Jeyaretnam of the Reform Party (RP) and Mr Desmond Lim of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) had filed their nomination papers.

Those who wanted to contest had one hour, between 11am and 12pm, to file their papers at the Nomination Centre at North Vista Secondary School.

After that, half an hour will be set aside for any objections to be raised.

Mr Zeng Guoyuan, who was expected to run as an independent candidate, walked out of the hall at about 11.10am. He told reporters he is not contesting.

Also out of running is Mr Ooi Boon Ewe, who was at the nomination centre but did not file any papers.

Mr Ooi, who was expected to contest as an independent candidate, told reporters that his Political Donations Certificate was missing. He also said he did not have his deposit with him, adding that it was in his car but he was not able to reach his driver.

The Returning Officer, Mr Yam Ah Mee, is expected to declare who are contesting by 1pm.

The Punggol East single—member constituency was left vacant by its Member of Parliament, Mr Michael Palmer, who resigned in December 2012.

Nine days of campaigning have been set aside.

January 25, a day before the by—election, is Cooling—Off Day.

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

— CNA/al