By Massita Ahmad
SINGAPORE, July 16 -- Two candidates from Progress Singapore Party (PSP) have been officially declared as Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs) by the Returning Officer today.
They are Leong Mun Wai and Hazel Poa, who contested in the West Coast GRC (group representation constituency) in the just-concluded Singapore General Election, which polling was on July 10.
According to Singapore Elections Department (ELD), the Parliamentary Elections Act states that, at any General Election, the number of NCMPs to be “declared elected shall be 12 less the number of Opposition MPs elected.”
The NCMPs to be declared elected shall be determined from amongst the candidates of the Opposition parties contesting the General Election on the basis of the percentage of votes polled by such candidates.
As 10 Opposition MPs were elected to Parliament in the General Election 2020, two candidates who received the highest votes amongst the unelected candidates from the Opposition parties shall be declared elected as NCMPs, it said.
The ELD said the group of candidates from PSP who contested in the five-member West Coast GRC received the highest percentage of votes amongst the unelected Opposition candidates.
Besides Leong and Poa, three others in the group are Khoo Poh Tiong Jeffrey, N. Loganathan, and Dr Tan Cheng Bock, the party’s secretary-general.
The group has the highest percentage among the losers with 48.32 per cent.
The ELD said the Returning Officer wrote to the group on July 13, 2020, and asked the group to determine amongst themselves, by July 20, 2020, the two candidates to be declared elected as NCMPs.
The group informed the Returning Officer on July 14, 2020, of their decision to nominate Leong and Poa as the ones to be declared elected as NCMPs.
The NCMP scheme was introduced 36 years ago, to ensure there will be a minimum number of opposition representatives in Parliament and that views other than the government can be expressed in the House.
-- BERNAMA
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