PAP's Melvin Yong wins with 74% of votes in Radin Mas SMC, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
Singapore

PAP's Melvin Yong wins with 74% of votes in Radin Mas SMC

This article is more than 12 months old

The People’s Action Party (PAP) candidate Melvin Yong wins the contest at Radin Mas SMC with 74.03 per cent of valid votes, with 16,834 votes.

Reform Party’s (RP) Mr Kumar Appavoo received 25.97 per cent, or 5,905 votes.

Mr Yong, 48, is a newcomer to Radin Mas SMC. He stood for his first elections in 2015 and has served at Tanjong Pagar GRC for the past five years. He moved to Radin Mas when the previous PAP MP Mr Sam Tan, 61, stepped down. 

Mr Tan had been serving Radin Mas as its MP for three terms since 2006. At the last GE in 2015, he secured a resounding victory against two oponents with 77.25 per cent of the votes. 

Mr Yong made job security during the Covid-19 pandemic a priority during his campaign, and promised to bring the support and resources of the labour movement to local community partners in the constituency. 

He also plans to create more green spaces and family-friendly amenities for residents, including smart lighting and solar panels to promote sustainable living. 

Mr Appavoo, 51, is no stranger to the constituency. He had contested at Radin Mas in 2015 and secured 12.7 per cent of the votes – slightly more than the 12.5 per cent a candidate needs to get a refund of his deposit. 

The director in an oil and gas company said his focus if he won the elections, will be on the cost of living, job opportunities and municipal issues. He hit the headlines this time when he did not turn up for the recording of his constituency’s political broadcast. He said later that his party had not told him about it. 

He had contested in the West Coast GRC with RP at the 2011 election. 

Driving out of Radin Mas Primary School, a counting centre, at about 12.30am, Mr Appavoo told The Straits Times: “I think (I did) fairly well for a Covid-19 pandemic election.” 

He added that the pandemic “worked well for the PAP”. – THE STRAITS TIMES

GENERAL ELECTION 2020