An Indian-origin man from Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) was elected member of the parliament following his victory in the by-election held at suburban Bukit Batok constituency. Murali Pillai garnered 61.21% of the votes, while Singapore Democratic Party’s Chee Soon Juan got 38.79% of votes. The Elections Department said a total of 24,192 votes were cast, including 622 rejected votes, which made up 94.03% of the 25,727 registered electors. Chee, a vociferous opposition leader, had challenged the ruling party in the one-on-one contest.

The Bukit Batok single seat was vacated when previous PAP MP David Ong resigned in March, following an alleged extramarital affair with a PAP activist. PAP, led by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, has absolute majority in the house.

Did You Know?

• Lee Hsien Loong is a Singaporean politician. He is the current and third Prime Minister of Singapore and has been in office since 2004.
• He is the eldest son of Singapore’s first Prime Minister, Lee Kuan Yew.
• In 2004, Lee became the nation’s third prime minister. He subsequently led his party to victory in the 2006, 2011 and 2015 general elections, and began his current term on 15 January 2016 (following the opening of Singapore’s 13th Parliament).