WP chief Low Thia Khiang wins fourth term as Hougang MP

By Ahmad Osman
May 6, 2006
AsiaOne Special Political Correspondent

Workers’ Party chief, Mr Low Thia Khiang, won his fourth straight term today (May 6) as the Member of Parliament for Hougang, the single-member constituency he won in 1991.

He won 13,987 of the votes cast and beat his ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) opponent, Mr Eric Low, who received 8,306 votes.

The 62.74 per cent victory margin for Mr Low was higher than the figure of 55 per cent in the last general election in November 2001.

The PAP’s $100 million plan to upgrade Hougang constituency and entice voters to vote for the party in this general election did not erode popular support on the ground for the WP leader.

National attention was also focused during the hustings on his slate of younger candidates who were generally younger, better-ed ucated and more articulate than the candidates fielded by the WP in the past when Mr Low was not the leader of the party.

WP chairman and law lecturer, Ms Sylvia Lim, the leader of the party’s team fielded in Ajunied GRC, heads the list of the “New Op pposition” faces trying to strengthen democracy in Singapore.