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Punggol East Single Member Constituency
Historical constituency of Singapore From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Punggol East Single Member Constituency was a single member constituency (SMC) located in the north-eastern area of Singapore. It was managed by Pasir Ris–Punggol Town Council between 2011 and 2013 and from 2015 to its abolition in 2020, and Aljunied–Hougang–Punggol East Town Council between 2013 and 2015.
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History
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In February 2011, ahead of the 2011 general election, the SMC was carved out of Pasir Ris–Punggol Group Representation Constituency (GRC) with 33,261 electors.[1]
Punggol East SMC was the sole constituency to feature a three-cornered contest for the 2011 election. The election was won by Michael Palmer, the incumbent MP for the Punggol East division in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC, with 54.54% of the vote, defeating newcomer Lee Li Lian from the Workers' Party (WP), as well as Desmond Lim, secretary-general of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), who respectively garnered 41.01% and 4.45% of the vote. Lim forfeited his election deposit for not winning at least 12.5% of the vote.
Palmer resigned in December 2012 after having his extramarital affair exposed,[2][3] with the SMC being placed in the care of Teo Ser Luck, Member of Parliament (MP) for the Punggol Central division in Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC.[4] On 9 January 2013, it was announced that a by-election for the SMC was to be held on 26 January.[5] The next day, the PAP unveiled their candidate for the by-election, Koh Poh Koon, while both Lee and Lim returned to contest for their respective parties. The election also featured a fourth candidate, Kenneth Jeyaretnam, secretary-general of the Reform Party (RP).
There were two rallies in this by-election. WP's rally drew the largest audience, amounting to between 5,000 and 12,000 viewers, while SDA used social media and technology to draw audiences via a series of videos posted to YouTube.
During the vote counting, Lim officially conceded defeat.[6] He and Jeyaretnam both lost their election deposits in this by-election, having respectively won 0.57% and 1.2% of the vote. At 0.57%, Lim also set a record for the lowest percentage of the vote garnered in an election in post-independence Singapore.[7]
Lee gained the seat for the WP with 16,038 local votes, or 54.52% (16,045 votes or 54.5% after the tabulation of overseas votes), marking the second gain made by the opposition from the PAP in a by-election. She was sworn into Parliament on 4 February 2013, and held her first Meet-The-People session (MPS) on the same day.[8] After her victory, the SMC was managed by the WP-held Aljunied–Hougang Town Council (AHTC), which was renamed Aljunied–Hougang–Punggol East Town Council (AHPETC).
In the 2015 general election, the PAP fielded Charles Chong against incumbent Lee. Just before Cooling-off Day, Chong distributed flyers alleging that the WP had "lost" $22.5 million of town council funds.[9] In response, the WP issued a statement refuting the claim.[9] Chong won with 51.76% of the vote in a straight fight. Lee was offered the first of three Non-Constituency MP (NCMP) seats by virtue of her electoral performance but rejected it,[10] a situation last seen in 1984.[11]
In the aftermath of the elections, Png Eng Huat, vice-chairman of WP, asked Chong about the missing money, later claiming that Chong replied that he had explained without having actually given an explanation.[12] In February 2018, Png stated in a Facebook post that AHTC, having reverted from AHPETC, had resolved all of its accounting lapses,[13] with $22.8 million to $26.3 million attributed to Punggol East SMC in every of its financial statements since 2013.[12] Pasir Ris–Punggol Town Council also had an unqualified financial statement for the 2016/2017 financial year which "[meant] there was no such missing money [or else] the accounts would be qualified".[12] When interviewed by The Straits Times, Chong refuted, stating that AHTC's financial statements were all qualified by its own auditors while questioning about an ongoing court case by AHTC against its town councillors.[12]
Prior to the 2020 general election, the SMC was absorbed into Sengkang GRC after the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) released its report on 13 March 2020.[14]
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Member of Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
| Formation | |||
| 2011 | Michael Palmer | PAP | |
| 2013 | Lee Li Lian | WP | |
| 2015 | Charles Chong | PAP | |
| Constituency abolished (2020) | |||
Electoral results
Elections in 2010s
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References
External links
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