East Coast Group Representation Constituency
The East Coast Group Representation Constituency is a five-member Group Representation Constituency in the eastern area of Singapore. The areas of the Group Representation Constituency consists of locations such as East Coast Park, Bedok, Changi, Simei, Siglap, Tampines, Pasir Ris, Chai Chee, Changi Airport and the offshore islands of Pulau Tekong, Pulau Ubin and Pedra Branca.[1] The GRC also covers a large portion of Singapore's eastern territorial waters and ITE College East. The five divisions are Bedok, Siglap, Fengshan, Changi-Simei and Kampong Chai Chee.
Group Representation Constituency for the Parliament of Singapore | |
Region | East and North-East Regions, Singapore |
Electorate | 121,772 |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1997 |
Seats | 5 |
Party | People's Action Party |
Member(s) | Heng Swee Keat Maliki Osman Tan Kiat How Cheryl Chan Wei Ling Jessica Tan Soon Neo |
Town Council | East Coast–Fengshan |
Created from |
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East Coast GRC is led by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat. He co-leads with Maliki Osman, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office, Second Minister of Foreign Affairs and Second Minister of Education.
History
East Coast GRC was formed in 1997 as a six-member Group Representation Constituency. East Coast GRC was formed with a merger of Bedok Group Representation Constituency and Eunos Group Representation Constituency.
Joo Chiat Single Member Constituency was formerly part of the GRC until 2001, and subsumed into Marine Parade GRC as of the 2015 elections. A large portion of the Kaki Bukit division and 60% of Kampong Chai Chee was transferred from East Coast GRC to Marine Parade GRC and saw the removal of Chew Heng Ching, Tan Soo Khoon and Lee Yock Suan due to the advanced age in 2006, followed by S Jayakumar and Abdullah Tarmugi in 2011. It was downsized from six members to five members following the redrawing of divisions into the Marine Parade GRC in 2006. The offshore island of Coney Island was transferred to Pasir Ris–Punggol GRC in 2015, while Fengshan SMC was carved out and East Coast GRC was left with four members. East Coast GRC was increased in size to five after Fengshan SMC has been absorbed back into East Coast GRC for the 2020 general election.
The People's Action Party (PAP) won in a walkover in the 1997 and 2001 general elections. It saw its first contest in the 2006 general election from the Workers' Party. This GRC is a perennial battleground between the two parties. In 2011 and 2015, the PAP received numerous close fights with the WP and won both times, though the results allowed WP candidates to enter parliament as Non-Constituency MPs both times.
In October 2015, Kampong Chai Chee MP, Lee Yi Shyan stepped down from his ministerial post after suffering from a mini stroke in May 2015. Prior to the 2020 general election, Lee Yi Shyan and Lim Swee Say retired and were succeeded by Tan Kiat How and Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, the latter who was transferred from Tampines GRC. The resulting election saw the PAP retaining East Coast GRC, albeit with the second closest marginal result after West Coast GRC; WP candidates did not enter parliament as NCMPs this time as the offer was made to the Progress Singapore Party in West Coast as the best performing losers.
East Coast GRC is the only GRC that is managing it's town council with no other constituencies and named as East Coast Town Council.
Members of Parliament
Election | Division | Incumbent | Party | |
1991 |
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PAP | ||
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Formation | ||||
1997 |
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PAP | |
2001 |
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|
PAP | |
2006 |
|
PAP | ||
2011 | PAP | |||
2015 |
|
PAP | ||
2020 |
|
PAP |
Candidates and results
Elections in 2020s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PAP | Heng Swee Keat Maliki Osman Tan Kiat How Cheryl Chan Wei Ling Jessica Tan Soon Neo |
61,144 | 53.39 | 6.72 | |
WP | Nicole Seah Xue Ling Kenneth Foo Seck Guan Abdul Shariff Aboo Kassim Terence Tan Li-Chern Dylan Ng Foo Eng |
53,375 | 46.61 | 6.72 | |
Majority | 7,769 | 6.78 | |||
Rejected ballots | 1,393 | 1.20 | |||
Turnout | 114,519 | 94.96 | 2.61 | ||
Registered electors | 121,772 | ||||
PAP hold | Swing | 6.72 |
As Fengshan merged with East Coast GRC, the notional result in 2015 with the two constituencies' 2015 votes combined is PAP 60.11%, WP 39.89%. Therefore, there was a swing of 6.72% to WP from the 2015 election.
Elections in 2010s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PAP | Lim Swee Say Lee Yi Shyan Maliki Osman Jessica Tan |
54,981 | 60.73 | 5.9 | |
WP | Leon Perera Daniel Goh Pei Siong Gerald Giam Mohamed Fairoz Bin Shariff |
35,547 | 39.27 | 5.9 | |
Majority | 19,434 | 21.4 | 11.8 | ||
Rejected ballots | 1,008 | 1.02 | - | ||
Turnout | 99,118 | - | |||
PAP hold | Swing | 5.9 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PAP | Lim Swee Say Raymond Lim Maliki Osman Lee Yi Shyan Jessica Tan |
59,992 | 54.8 | 9.1 | |
WP | Gerald Giam Png Eng Huat Mohd Fazli Talip Eric Tan Heng Chong Glenda Han |
49,429 | 45.2 | 9.1 | |
Majority | 10,563 | 9.6 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 111,269 | 92.5 | N/A | ||
PAP hold | Swing | 9.1 |
Elections in 2000s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PAP | S Jayakumar Raymond Lim Abdullah Tarmugi Lee Yi Shyan Jessica Tan |
66,931 | 63.9 | ||
WP | Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman Brandon Siow Wei-Min Chia Ti Lik Eric Tan Heng Chong Perry Tong Tzee Kwang |
37,873 | 36.1 | ||
Turnout | 107,028 | 91.7 | |||
PAP hold | Swing | N/A |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
PAP | S Jayakumar Raymond Lim Lee Yock Suan Abdullah Tarmugi Tan Soo Khoon Chew Heng Ching |
Walkover | ||
Turnout | 144,012 | N/A | ||
PAP hold |
Elections in 1990s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
PAP | S Jayakumar Ch'ng Hee Kok Tan Soo Khoon Abdullah Tarmugi Chew Heng Ching Chan Soo Sen |
Walkover | |||
Turnout | 142,201 | N/A | |||
PAP win (new seat) |
References
- Lai, Linette (1 February 2019). "Registers of electors to be updated, Pedra Branca included under East Coast electoral division". The Straits Times. Retrieved 14 November 2019.