NSP Decides not to Contest MacPherson

The Straits Times

24 August 2015

The National Solidarity Party (NSP) seems to have made another U-turn, this time reversing its controversial decision to contest the MacPherson single-seat ward at the coming polls.

This about-face, a second by the NSP since Wednesday, threatens to throw the party – which had set out earlier to unite the opposition – into disarray before the next elections widely expected to be held next month.

The party is still without a secretary-general after acting chief Hazel Poa quit last Wednesday over its central executive committee’s decision to renege on an opposition-wide pact to avoid three-cornered fights by steering clear of MacPherson single-member constituency (SMC). The NSP now appears to have also lost a potential candidate for the polls.

… Political analyst Bilveer Singh added that by backpedalling, the NSP came off looking especially bad, given that it was the party that led the all-parties talks intended to eliminate three-cornered fights for votes in the first place.

“Whatever the actual impact, it gives the opposition a bad name in this country,” he added.

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