Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency
The Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency is a Single Member Constituency (SMC) in the central region of Singapore. The current Member of Parliament of the constituency is Sitoh Yih Pin of the People's Action Party (PAP). History. Established in 1968, this constituency encompasses the neighbourhoods of Potong Pasir and Joo Seng, the Sennett and Tannery private estates, as well as the entire HDB estate of Bidadari since 2020. It was carved out of Aljunied in 1968. The constituency's most famous MP is Mr Chiam See Tong, who currently leads the Singapore People's  Party. Back when he was with the Singapore Democratic Party, he defeated the People's Action Party's candidate, Mah Bow Tan (who would later become a Cabinet Minister and MP for Tampines GRC) in the 1984 general election, as well as other candidates such as Sitoh Yih Pin and Andy Gan Lai Chiang. In December 1996, Chiam left the SDP and joined the Singapore People's Party (SPP). Chiam's resignation from his party does not affect his seat and continue as the SMC's MP under SPP. Between 2001 and 2011, this seat was one of only two  opposition seats in the Parliament of Singapore (the other being Hougang SMC, held by the Workers' Party's Low Thia Khiang). Since Chiam entered Parliament in 1984, this made him the longest-serving opposition MP in Singapore's history as of 2011. The seat used to be a hotly contested seat in the general elections. In the 2001 general election, Chiam won the seat by 751 votes to Sitoh, clinching 52.4% of the votes. Chiam subsequently improved his winning margin to 55.8% in the 2006 general election. In 2011, Chiam, as well as Low, experimented with leading a team to  contest a nearby GRC (in Chiam's case, the Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC). Unlike Low and his party (who won both the GRC they contested as well as his original seat), Chiam and his party were defeated by the PAP in both constituencies. Not only were Chiam and his team defeated in Bishan–Toa Payoh, they also lost Potong Pasir to the PAP's Sitoh, who defeated Chiam's successor (and wife), Lina Loh Woon Lee on a marginal percentage of 0.72%. After that election, Mrs Lina Chiam became a Non-constituency MP (NCMP), having been the best performing loser  at the polls. In 2015, Sitoh retained his seat, this time with 66.41% of the votes, again defeating Mrs Lina Chiam. With Chiam illegible for a seat as an NCMP since she was not one of the best performing losers at that year's polls, this concluded a 31-year long streak of the Chiam family's presence in Parliament. Following the release of the EBRC report for the 2020 General Election, Blocks 210 to 224 of Lorong 8 Toa Payoh were consolidated into the 4-member Bishan–Toa Payoh GRC while this constituency in return, took the Joo Seng  and Woodleigh neighbourhoods from the neighbouring Marine Parade GRC's Geylang Serai ward, to allow further development. Since early 2018, the Singapore People's Party's Jose Raymond has been actively canvassing on the ground in Potong Pasir. On 14 March 2020, the Singapore People's Party announced through a Facebook post that its Chairman Jose Raymond would be its candidate for Potong Pasir SMC for the General Elections which was called on 30 June 2020, with Polling Day on 10 July 2020. This SMC was another opposition stronghold area of Singapore People's Party, Singapore Democratic Party and Singapore  Democratic Alliance, Chiam See Tong but the People's Action Party managed to reclaim back the SMC in 2011. Prior to 2010s, Potong Pasir SMC used to run its own town council. As of current, Potong Pasir SMC and Jalan Besar GRC are under the same Town Council, Jalan Besar Town Council. People's Action Party Sitoh Yih Pin defeated Singapore People's Party Jose Raymond with a vote count of 60.67% vs 39.33%, winning a third term as the incumbent MP for Potong Pasir. Town Council. Jalan Besar GRC is managed by the Jalan Besar Town Council. Potong Pasir