SMU Assistant Professor of Law Eugene Tan was of the opinion that if Desmond Choo can show his support to facilitate the upgrading plans in Hougang, it will help to augment PAP's support in the constituency, the opposition would also not be able to harp on this issue at the next election. With regards to the 6.1% of voters who did not turn up to vote (compared to 4.6%, 5% and 5.6% in the last 3 elections between 2001 and 2011), Prof Tan commented that the less than 1% increase is not significant. As the scale of this by-election is small compared to the GE, some voters might have felt that the results would not make an impact, and since it was not a public holiday, some voters had decided not to cast their vote.
Lianhe Wanbao