By Satish Cheney | Posted:
17 April 2011 1430 hrs
SINGAPORE: The Reform Party has decided to give way
to other opposition parties in two single member constituencies
(SMC) and one group representation constituency (GRC) in the
upcoming General Election.
It will give way to the National Solidarity Party in Jurong GRC,
the Singapore Democratic Party in Yuhua SMC and the Singapore
People's Party in Hong Kah North SMC.
The party said it is doing this in the interest of opposition
harmony.
Its Secretary-General Kenneth Jeyaretnam said his party will
contest West Coast GRC, Radin Mas SMC and Pioneer SMC.
However, the party has not made a final decision yet on whether to
contest Chua Chu Kang GRC.
On Saturday, the National Solidarity Party also announced plans to
give way in the spirit of opposition unity. It said it would move
its team slated for Moulmein-Kallang GRC to Chua Chu Kang GRC to
avoid a three-cornered fight with the Workers' Party.
He said the party has "enough candidates to form the nucleus" of
the team for Chua Chu Kang and it is a question of whether it
decides to go ahead. He added that the party is on the verge of
announcing new candidates as well.
The party is also in discussion with other parties on the
possibility of sharing candidates.
Despite speculation that Mr Jeyaretnam may stand in Pioneer SMC, he
said he has not ruled out the possibility of contesting
elsewhere.
He said: "It could be Pioneer, it could be Radin Mas. Remember
Radin Mas has a history, a lot of the residents have come forward
to ask me to stand there, including 85 per cent of residents at
Bukit Purmei who supported my father (J.B Jeyaretnam) in Anson. So,
there's a big groundswell of support there. Or I could be standing
in West Coast."
-CNA