SDP pullout means closer fight between WP, PAP: analysts
That's the message from analysts Yahoo! Singapore spoke to when asked about their reaction to the Singapore Democratic Party's shock withdrawal from the Punggol race on Tuesday.
"The dynamics have certainly now changed," said political analyst and former Nominated Member of Parliament Siew Kum Hong.
"While the multi-cornered fight will still probably impact the WP's vote share, it is now much closer to a straight fight between the WP and the PAP, and Lee Li Lian has a credible chance of winning," he said.
Siew was referring to the decision earlier in the day by Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) to field Desmond Lim in Punggol come Polling Day on 26 January.
While Reform Party's Kenneth Jeyaretnam has also stated he will contest in Punggol, Siew believes their participation may not skew too much from what's expected to be a contest between serious contenders People's Action Party (Koh Poh Koon) and Workers' Party (Lee Li Lian).
"SDA will almost certainly not improve on their vote share; if anything, those who had voted for them in GE2011 may vote differently this time, since they now know that SDA will not win," he said.
"RP may draw some votes, but will likely have less of an impact on voting patterns than the SDP would have had.