GE2025
Vivian Balakrishnan to lead unchanged PAP team in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC for GE2025
Vivian Balakrishnan will lead the PAP team in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC again, joined by Sim Ann, Christopher de Souza and Edward Chia. The team, which won 66.36% of the vote in 2020, faces potential competition from the SDP or Red Dot United in the upcoming GE2025.
SINGAPORE: Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan will lead the People’s Action Party (PAP) team contesting Holland-Bukit Timah GRC in the next general election, scheduled to take place in 2025.
He will be joined by Sim Ann, Senior Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and National Development, Deputy Speaker Christopher de Souza, and Member of Parliament Edward Chia.
Speaking at Pang Sua Pond on 15 April 2025, Balakrishnan described the slate as a “tried-and-tested” team familiar to residents and deeply engaged with the community.
“We’ve walked with our residents, listened to their ideas, their anxieties, their hopes, their aspirations,” he said.
The four candidates will reprise their roles from the 2020 general election, where the PAP team secured 66.36 per cent of votes against the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP).
That year, the SDP fielded Min Cheong, James Gomez, Alfred Tan and Tan Jee Say.
Balakrishnan has contested in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC since its formation in 2006, having entered politics in 2001 via Holland-Bukit Panjang GRC.
De Souza, a lawyer, also entered politics in 2006 and has remained in the GRC since. Sim entered Parliament in 2011 and has likewise stayed with the ward.
Chia, a businessman, first contested in 2020, succeeding Liang Eng Hwa, who moved to Bukit Panjang SMC.
Ahead of GE2025, minor boundary changes have been implemented in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC.
Two Choa Chu Kang HDB estates – Rail Green I and II @ CCK – have been reassigned to Chua Chu Kang GRC.
A polling district east of Upper Bukit Timah Road was transferred from Jurong GRC to Holland-Bukit Timah.
Following these changes, the electorate in Holland-Bukit Timah GRC is expected to rise from 114,973 in 2020 to 122,891 in 2025.
The opposition landscape remains in flux, with Red Dot United (RDU) having declared interest in contesting the GRC.
Ravi Philemon, RDU’s secretary-general, noted that the Singapore Democratic Party is still considering whether to field a team, as it has done in the last three elections.
Should the SDP proceed, RDU has indicated it may step aside to avoid a multi-cornered contest.
Observers will be watching closely to see whether the SDP repeats its challenge or makes way for another opposition group.
The PAP team, meanwhile, is banking on continuity and familiarity with the ground to secure another electoral victory in the constituency.
