Punggol East by-election candidates to file nomination papers Wednesday

Singaporeans will witness a second by-election in the city state just eight months after the last one at the Hougang single member constituency.

Candidates contesting in the Punggol East By-Election will file their nomination papers at the North Vista Secondary School nomination centre today from 11am till noon.

The Punggol East single member constituency fell vacant after former Speaker of Parliament and MP for the area, Michael Palmer resigned on 12th of December 2012, due to an extramarital affair. 

Under the Parliamentary Elections procedures, one hour is set aside for the filing of nomination papers and a further half an hour for any objections to be raised. 

The Returning Officer, Mr Yam Ah Mee is expected to declare the results of nomination by 1pm today. 

The ruling People's Action Party's (PAP) fielding 40-year-old Dr Koh Poh Koon, a surgeon, as its candidate. 

While the Workers' Party has announced that 34-year-old Lee Li Lian who contested in the 2011 General Election in the same ward will be fielded again. 

Ms Lee is a trainer at a financial institution. 

Two other opposition candidates have also stated their interest to contest. 

They are the Secretary-General of the Reform Party, Kenneth Jeyaretnam and the Secretary-General of the Singapore Democratic Alliance, Desmond Lim who also took part in the 2011 polls in Punggol East. 

The Singapore Democratic Party however has decided to withdraw from the contest, just a day before Nomination Day after expressing interest to contest the by-election. 

Separately, the Elections Department announced that it had received fourteen applications for the Political Donation Certificates, one of the documents which have to be submitted when filing the Nomination Papers. 

The election deposit payable by each candidate is $14,500. 

Nine days of campaigning have been set aside with Friday, 25th January designated as Cooling Off Day. 

Candidates have indicated that they would be raising several issues concerning the needs of the Punggol East division during their campaign period. 

There are some 32,000 voters in the Punggol East single member constituency and Polling Day has been set for the 26th of this month, a Saturday. 

In the 2011 General Election, the PAP won the Punggol East ward, garnering nearly 54 percent of the votes cast.