ST reader encourages oppo to have 3-corner fights

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

http://www.tremeritus.com/2015/07/29...corner-fights/
ST reader encourages oppo to have 3-corner fights


July 29th, 2015 |
Author: Online
Press



With election fever upon us, some may expect opposition parties to cooperate
in carving out areas to contest in (“Opposition politicians weigh their options“; last
Saturday).


Who will benefit in a 3-way fight?


But younger or weaker parties should not expect established ones to cede
areas to them. Neither should parties, new or otherwise, hold back from
contesting where others have been active.

At this stage of Singapore’s political development, it is not in the interest
of voters for parties to give way to others.

Parties should decide where to run based on their own calculations. These may
well include considering where others may contest and avoiding multi-way fights
if they think this will hurt themselves. But parties should not give way simply
in the name of cooperation.

In the past, cooperation was touted as necessary on the basis that
multi-party contests would split votes because voters did not clearly
distinguish between opposition parties.

Such arguments are no longer valid, if they ever were.

Voting patterns in the 2011 General Election and the 2013 Punggol East
by-election showed that Singapore voters are politically-savvy and can
differentiate between parties and vote for their preferred candidates, whether
from the ruling party or the opposition.

Instead of hoping for other parties to accommodate them, political parties
keen to represent the people in Parliament should select quality candidates and
then put in the years of hard work, commitment and consistency necessary to
grow, establish and distinguish their parties, to prove that they are worth
voting for.

Tan Soon
Meng

* Letter first appeared in ST Forum
(28 Jul).


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