In an unexpected turn of events, the PAP won its first constituency at the 2025 General Election when it stood uncontested for the five-member Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC on April 23.
The PAP team was expected to be challenged by a team from WP, which had contested Marine Parade GRC in 2020 and garnered 42.26 per cent of the vote, losing to PAP's 57.74 per cent.
Minister of State for National Development and Home Affairs Faishal Ibrahim, Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng, incumbent MacPherson MP Tin Pei Ling and PAP new faces Diana Pang and Goh Pei Ming will be part of Singapore's 15th Parliament.
This is the first walkover at a General Election since 2011.
Signs that the WP would not be contesting emerged on April 23 morning at the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council Hougang Office, when reporters from The Straits Times heard WP supporters talking among themselves that the party would not contest Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC.
The non-contest was confirmed at Kong Hwa School - the nomination centre for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights - when a team from the WP failed to show up to register as candidates for the election.
At about 11.20am - 40 minutes before the deadline for candidates to file their nomination papers - Mr Goh Pei Ming showed up at Kong Hwa School, the nomination centre for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, without the rest of the PAP team for the constituency.
Mr Goh had been seen at walkabouts in East Coast GRC prior to Nomination Day.
About five minutes later, four PAP candidates - Dr Faishal, Mr Seah, Ms Tin and Ms Pang - walked into the centre together, without Dr Tan See Leng, who had been slated to lead the team into the election and was spotted earlier in the morning at the PAP's Mountbatten branch office, where the party's candidates for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC had gathered.
Dr Tan's was later seen at the nomination centre for Chua Chu Kang GRC, and he will be part of the PAP's team contesting the constituency.
Since the 2020 election, WP members and volunteers have continued to walk the ground, with one of the party's candidates for Marine Parade at that election - Mr Nathaniel Koh - posting on social media recently about an April 19 walkabout at Marine Parade Central Market and Food Centre.
The last walkover at a General Election was in 2011, when a PAP team for Tanjong Pagar GRC stood uncontested, sending Mr Chan Chun Sing, Dr Chia Shi-Lu, Ms Indranee Rajah, Mr Lee Kuan Yew and Dr Lily Neo to Parliament.
The newly renamed Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC is formed from parts of Marine Parade GRC, MacPherson SMC, Mountbatten SMC and Potong Pasir SMC.
Marine Parade GRC has been contested at three consecutive elections, in 2011, 2015 and 2020.
In 2006, a team led by then-Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong won the constituency in a walkover.
That team also comprised Dr Faishal and Mr Seah, who were making their electoral debuts, as well as incumbent Mountbatten MP Lim Biow Chuan, Dr Ong Seh Hong and Dr Fatimah Lateef.
- Additional reporting by Clement Yong and Wong Pei Ting
