SINGAPORE: The People’s Action Party’s (PAP) Marine Parade-Braddell Heights team spent a total of S$388,756 (US$301,236) on what turned out to be an election walkover, according to documents published on the Elections Department’s (ELD) website as of Thursday (May 29).
The five PAP Members of Parliament (MP) are among the first 35 candidates who have declared their expenses for the May 3 General Election, and the first PAP ones to have done so.
The top spender in this first batch was Mr Goh Pei Ming from Marine Parade-Braddell Heights GRC, at S$104,085, with S$52,650 on non-online election advertisements.
Next was his teammate and former MacPherson MP Tin Pei Ling, with S$84,128.
The PAP team for the Group Representation Constituency (GRC) is rounded off by Speaker of Parliament Seah Kian Peng who spent S$74,693; new MP Diana Pang who spent S$74,437; and former Nee Soon MP Faishal Ibrahim who spent S$51,413.
The bulk of their expenses were on non-online advertisements such as posters and flyers.
Among the election materials produced and sent to residents in Marine Parade-Braddell Heights was a 48-page brochure outlining plans for the constituency.
The manifesto featured Dr Tan See Leng, who was part of the PAP team that won Marine Parade GRC at the previous election in 2020. His last-minute switch to Chua Chu Kang GRC this election was seen as a surprise move.
Speaking to CNA last month, Mr Seah said his team would have liked to hang campaign posters, but could not “as part of the rules”.
Posters can only be put up during the campaign period for a constituency during an election, which does not occur when there is a walkover.
However, he said printed manifestos would still be sent out and “not go to waste”.
A former PAP MP who experienced two walkovers in his political career told CNA that it was unsurprising to incur “quite high” expenses ahead of Nomination Day, even for an uncontested constituency.
“In planning the GE, we always assume there is a contest,” said former Ang Mo Kio GRC MP Inderjit Singh, who was elected unopposed in the 1997 and 2001 General Election.
He said the biggest costs come from posters, plywood, manifestos, transport, IT services and meals, adding: “Whether or not there is a contest, it is money already spent.”
Printing firms also previously told CNA that orders for such physical election campaign collaterals typically come six months in advance.
CNA has contacted the PAP for comment.
HOW DID OTHER PARTIES SPEND?
Under the law, candidates have until Jun 16 to declare their election expenses and what they were used for. This is to ensure accountability and transparency of each candidate’s election finances, said ELD.
The election expenses limit for candidates was also increased from S$4 per elector to S$5 per elector, to account for inflation.
A total of 211 candidates contested in GE2025, with no declarations from Workers’ Party candidates so far.
The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) were the next highest spenders among the initial batch of 35 candidate declarations.
Ten of the 13 candidates fielded by PSP have declared their spending, all to the tune of over S$30,000. Former Non-Constituency MP Leong Mun Wai is among the biggest spenders in the party so far, paying S$36,041 to fund his West Coast-Jurong West GRC campaign.
Independent candidates Jeremy Tan, who contested Mountbatten SMC, and Darryl Lo, who contested Radin Mas SMC, spent S$16,075 and S$12,213 respectively.
Retired businessman Tan spent more than half of this – S$8,804 – on his solo physical rally.
Among the 35 was also one candidate – Red Dot United’s (RDU) Kala Manickam – who had disputed claims of S$1,365. This consisted of S$404 for “food expenses for candidates and volunteers”, S$66 for “transport charges for volunteers” and S$895 for “cost of printing additional flyers”.
Speaking to CNA, Ms Manickam, who contested in Jurong Central SMC, said there was an agreement with RDU that part of her election expenses would have to be raised through…
The People’s Action Party (PAP) team for Marine Parade-Braddell Heights declared spending S$388,756 (US$301,236) for an uncontested election. The top spender was Mr. Goh Pei Ming at S$104,085, while other team members included Tin Pei Ling, Seah Kian Peng, Diana Pang, and Faishal Ibrahim. Despite not being able to hang posters due to walkover rules, the team prepared printed materials, and other parties, such as the Progress Singapore Party, also reported spending over S$30,000 each.
