GE: 82 out of 87 seats contested

Note from TuffDaddy: Due to the General Election 2011 going on in Singapore from 27 Apr to 07 May, I won't really have time to update every piece of news on here. I'm sorry about that. For news on the GE, check out the following links for updates by real professionals.
Singapore Votes
General Election 2011
Vote 2011 Singapore

SINGAPORE - Singapore will be looking forward to its most keenly contested General Election since independence. This is the second time in a row that the ruling government has not been returned to power - 82 out of 87 seats will be contested.

In the last General Election held in 2006, the PAP gained 37 seats in divisions which were uncontested by other parties on Nomination Day.

Highlights from Nomination Day Click on thumbnail to view (Photos: AFP, Reuters, TNP & ST)

For today's Nomination Day that just ended, candidates had to file their papers at nine Nomination Centres before nominations closed at noon, with an extra 30 minutes for objections.

Tanjong Pagar GRC has been declared a walkover, as the Singapore Democratic Alliance put in its nomination papers 35 seconds late. The deadline for submitting nomination papers was 12pm.

Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, who leads the PAP team there, said the opposition party made a 'feeble effort to show that they want to contest."

An objection was put up by the Singapore Democratic Party over PAP's candidate for Holland-Bukit Timah GRC. Dr Vincent Wijeysingha and his team filed an objected to Ms Sim Ann's candidacy over her employment status, which stated that she was unemployed, although she is in the midst of serving notice as a civil servant. They said that this technically disqualifies her as a candidate.

Another development that was keenly watched is the results for Aljunied GRC. It will be contested by Workers' Party Low Thia Khiang and his dream team. They will be up against the PAP team led by Foreign Minister George Yeo.

Also expected to be of interest to Singaporeans is Marine Parade GRC, where the incumbent PAP team led by Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong also include its youngest candidate, 27-year-old Tin Pei Ling. Other members are Dr Fatimah Lateef, Mr Seah Kian Peng and Brigadier-General (NS) Tan Chuan-Jin.

Facing the PAP team is the team from National Solidarity Party (NSP) led by former MP Cheo Chai Zheng and include the youngest candidate of this general election, 24-year-old Nicole Seah. Other members are Mr Ivan Yeo Tiong Boon, Mr Abdul Salim Harun and Mr Spencer Ng Chung Hon.

Singapore's electoral boundaries are divided into 12 single member constituencies (SMCs) and 15 Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs).

In total, 14 GRCs and 12 SMCs will be contested during the 2011 General Election.

There are a total of 2,350,873 eligible voters for this General Election.

This officially kicks off the nine-day election campaign.

ORIGINAL SOURCE

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