WP challenges SM Gohs in Singapore elections

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   SINGAPORE - Voters looking forward to feisty exchanges in the coming General Election were given a taste of things to come yesterday, as Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong's "chilli crab" analogy got the Workers' Party (WP) hot under the collar.
   
   A day after Mr Goh emphasised that good candidates mattered, no matter where the electoral boundaries - just like good chilli crab will sell, no matter where the stall is located - WP chairman Sylvia Lim called the analogy a "red herring to confuse voters".
   
   In a press statement yesterday, Ms Lim said Mr Goh had attempted to "re-cast" the boundary changes to Aljunied GRC, in particular, as more disadvantageous to the ruling party than to the Opposition.
   
   The reality, she countered, was that the People's Action Party would have to make only minimal adjustments, as it could leverage on the "vast grassroots network" of Singapore residents committees and citizens' consultative committees under the People's Association.
   
   Using Mr Goh's analogy, Ms Lim said: "SM Goh must be aware that he is one of the three most well-known chilli crab stall operators, besides Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, operating chain stalls all over Singapore in the form of the GRCs."
   
   In contrast, WP has "limited resources" and focuses on more localised areas, said Ms Lim, who led WP's team at Aljunied in the 2006 elections. "WP admits it's no match for the PAP in this chain-stall setting," she added.
   
   The WP has been "working consistently for many years on the ground" in Hougang and nearby areas, said Ms Lim.
   
   "The precincts in Hougang Avenue 8 cut out of Aljunied into Ang Mo Kio GRC are in the heart of WP's root area," she noted.
   
   More than 29,000 voters have been redrawn out of Aljunied and replaced by 19,549 voters from Marine Parade GRC - which led to WP's accusations last week of gerrymandering, before Mr Goh said on Sunday that Opposition candidates had "no roots" and they could contest "anywhere".

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