Channel NewsAsia: Workers' Party refuses to confirm candidates for East Coast GRC

SINGAPORE VOTES 2006

By Farah Abdul Rahim

A Workers' Party team was spotted on a walkabout in East Coast Group Representation Constituency on Sunday.

Although the five-man team was handing out election pamphlets with their individual photographs and names, they however refused to confirm if they were the candidates contesting the area, saying this was a strategy to irk the People's Action Party.

Chia Ti Lik, Candidate, Workers' Party, said: "We cannot deny we are in competition with them and the longer we wait to confirm, to come out with a firm slate and where we are standing, it irks them more because they need to do their planning to counter our groundwork, efforts and candidates' profiles."

But Deputy Prime Minister S Jayakumar, who is leading the PAP team in East Coast GRC, said rather than irk the PAP, such a strategy simply leaves residents in the dark.

Professor S Jayakumar, Deputy Prime Minister, said: "Why should it irk us? I would think the residents will be really interested to know who your team will be. It doesn't irk the PAP because whether there's a contest, who's going to contest, who will be the faces of the team - our strategy does not change." - CNA/ch