SINGAPORE: The ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) will field Mr Xie Yao Quan as its candidate in the newly created Jurong Central single-seat ward for the upcoming General Election.
The Jurong Central ward, which has 29,620 voters, is one of six new Single Member Constituencies (SMCs) following the latest review of Singapore’s electoral boundaries.
The announcement was made on Monday (Apr 14) during the party’s unveiling of its candidates for both Jurong Central SMC and the adjacent Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.
Mr Xie is currently serving as the MP for the Jurong Central division of the present Jurong GRC, having held the role since his electoral debut in 2020. He has also served as the chairman of the Jurong-Clementi Town Council for the last five years.
“In these five years, I’ve walked the ground, listened deeply to residents and put my heart into all that I’ve done to serve residents,” he said at the press conference.
Addressing residents of Jurong East who are now part of Jurong Central SMC, Mr Xie said he was previously a community volunteer in the area from 2015 to 2020.
“So this is, in a way, a homecoming for me,” he added.
He is expected to face an opponent from Red Dot United, which has signalled its intention to contest the Jurong Central seat.
Jurong Central SMC was carved out of Jurong GRC as part of a wider reconfiguration aimed at maintaining a consistent MP-to-voter ratio. At the same time, Bukit Batok and Yuhua SMCs, as well as sections of the former Jurong GRC and Hong Kah North SMC, were merged to form the new Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC.
The Electoral Boundaries Review Committee said the reconfiguration was necessary due to population growth in areas like Bukit Batok West and Tengah.
