Singapore Democrats
The court hearing for Dr Wong Souk Yee’s application for a court declaration for a by-election to be held at the Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC has been switched to 22 January 2018. The date was originally fixed for 15 January.
With Mdm Halimah Yacob, formerly a Marsiling-Yew Tee MP, vacating her seat to become the President, it behooves the government to hold an election to replace her.
The SDP and Dr Wong, one of SDP’s candidates at the GRC in the last GE and Assistant Treasurer of the party, had initiated the action.
However, the Attorney-General Chambers objected to SDP being a party to the action as it said that SDP had no official standing in the case.
In order not to complicate the matter and hold up the process, the SDP agreed to withdraw from the suit. This leaves Dr Wong as the sole applicant.
There is one concern, however. The case may be heard behind closed doors.
Dr Wong’s counsel, Peter Low & Choo LLC, attended a pre-trial conference this morning and has notified the court and the AGC that it will apply on the hearing day itself for the matter to be heard in open court. The AGC has said that it is unlikely to object.