No prime minister of Singapore has ever moved out of their constituency, let alone into a supposed hot spot. To be fair, Lee, Goh and Lee probably could as they were very popular, but consolidation in one area and building clout from there was the political wisdom.
Why did Heng do it? Some say it's to rescue East Coast from falling into WP's hands. I think that's the simplistic view. PAP had advance knowledge WP's B team was weakened by a new GRC in Sengkang and the promotion of some members to the A team. East Coast is less risky if anything. If rescue was really the intention, they could've sent Masagos, Indranee or Desmond Lee, and not endanger the crown prince. For me, it was symbolic and optical. The party or Heng wanted to show he could lead a new slate and not be sheltered, but wanted a fight he wouldn't lose so as to accredit his coronation.
Tough luck for Nicole. You can tell WP's strategy is basically stacking it in Aljunied and Hougang. You can call the Sengkang team the B team, or you can say it's carefully curated for the demographics. By both measures, Nicole would have fit into Sengkang, but her star power has been diverted to East Coast, where WP uses as a test bed. She would lose, but she would pick up the NCMP spot. Now that PAP has flashed a trump card who can probably carry a 5% swing in votes, Nicole's fortunes are not so apparent anymore.
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