GE2025: Electoral boundaries report out, with more seats up for contest

In a clear indication that a General Election (GE) is imminent, the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC) has published its report on Singapore's electoral boundaries.

The report, released on Tuesday (March 11), outlined several changes, including a total of one additional group representation constituency (GRC) and one single-seat ward.

There will be 10 five-member GRCs, one less than the 11 in 2020, while the number of four-member GRCs will increase to eight from the six in 2020.

There will be 15 single member constituencies (SMCs). There are currently 14 SMCs and 17 GRCs with four or five members each.

The number of elected Members of Parliament (MPs) will also increase to 97, up from 93 now.

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New GRCs

There will be five new GRCs which will include Pasir Ris-Changi, Punggol, Jurong East-Bukit Batok, Marine Parade-Braddell Heights and West Coast-Jurong West.

The new SMCs include Bukit Gombak, Jalan Kayu, Jurong Central, Queenstown, Sembawang West and Tampines Changkat. 

Among the newly formed GRCs will be Jurong East-Bukit Batok GRC, which will absorb parts of the existing Jurong GRC along with adjacent polling districts including Bukit Batok SMC, Yuhua SMC, and Hong Kah North SMC.

Singapore Democratic Party's chief Dr Chee Soon Juan, who had previously contested in Bukit Batok SMC, lost to PAP MP Murali Pillai during the 2020 general election.

Speaking to AsiaOne, one Bukit Batok resident, Fu Yu Xian, said she's glad that there'll be more MPs serving the community in the future.

The 65-year-old shared that while her MP has been doing a good job in that estate, some senior residents have complained that it has been difficult to use the overhead bridges as there were no lifts serving those bridges.

"It's really difficult for them to cross the bridge," she said, adding that many of these senior residents have to use overhead bridges to pick up their grandchildren from Keming Primary School.

Another Bukit Batok resident, Wong Wei Jian, 30, shared with AsiaOne that he's curious about the candidates who will stand for the upcoming GE in this constituency. 

In particular, he hopes that the concerns of low-income families can be addressed by these candidates amid the rising cost of living in Singapore.

In the northeast, the new four-member Punggol GRC will be formed by combining Punggol West SMC with a portion of Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC.

The Committee noted that the use of double-barrelled names better reflects the identities of geographical areas. It therefore recommended continuing this practice for most of the newly-formed GRCs.

This report comes after Parliament unanimously passed a record $143 billion Budget for 2025 on Monday (March 10), the largest in the country's history. 

The Government has accepted the recommendations of the Committee and will implement them at the next GE.

This paves the way for the upcoming GE which must be held by November 2025. It will be the first under Prime Minister Lawrence Wong and his 4G leadership team.

A rise in voter numbers

The number of electors in the latest Provisional Registers of Electors was 2,753,226 as of Feb 2, an increase of 101,791 from 2,651,435 electors at GE2020.

However, this growth was not evenly distributed across the various Electoral Divisions (EDs), said the EBRC on Tuesday.

"Due to population shifts and new housing developments, some EDs such as Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, Sembawang GRC, Tampines GRC, Hong Kah North SMC and Potong Pasir SMC have experienced higher growth than others," it said.

The EBRC reviews and recommends changes to electoral boundaries, taking into account population shifts and housing developments leading to increases or decreases in the number of voters across electoral divisions, according to ELD.

Additional reporting by Hoon Jeng Jee and Khoo Yi-Hang

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bhavya.rawat@asiaone.com