By-Election Need Not Be Called In A GRC If An MP Resigns
On 30 Nov, Sengkang GRC MP Raeesah Khan announced publicly that she would be resigning from the Workers’ Party, as well as an MP.
WP’s Raeesah Khan Resigns As MP, Thanks Sengkang Residents For Allowing Her To Serve
As such, the seat in Sengkang has been vacated.
While an MP resigning may trigger a by-election in a Single-Member Constituency (SMC), this will not be the case for a GRC like Sengkang.
Read on to find out why.
No by-election necessary if a GRC MP resigns
MPs have resigned from GRCs before. An example is Halimah Yacob, who resigned as MP of Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC in 2017 to contest in the Presidential Election, which she won.
Naturally, the question arose at the time as to whether a by-election would be called to replace her seat.
But according to the Parliamentary Elections Act, a by-election can only be called if all MPs of a GRC vacate their seats.
This was confirmed in Parliament by Chan Chun Sing on 6 Feb 2017.
If one MP vacates their seat, the other GRC members will serve the needs of residents there.
By-election need not be called if minority MP vacates seat
Questions have also been raised as to what happens if a minority MP of a GRC resigns, as in the case of Ms Raeesah.
As the GRC system was set up ostensibly to ensure minority representation, this became a concern.
However, in 2019, the Court of Appeal upheld the notion that a by-election need not be held even if a minority MP resigns.
The reason cited was that this would prevent a GRC member from holding the other members to “ransom”.
A scenario like this would be what Parliament intended to avoid when it implemented the GRC scheme.
WP will hold press conference on 2 Nov
In response to Ms Raeesah’s resignation, WP said that it’ll hold a press conference to provide more information on the matter.
As has been established, it is highly unlikely that a by-election will be called.
Meanwhile, the needs of Sengkang GRC residents will presumably be met by other WP MPs, both inside and outside the GRC.
When Ms Raeesah and He Ting Ru went on maternity leave last year, a slew of MPs helped to take care of residents.
While WP will presumably announce the next course of action on Thursday, a similar scenario may play out until the next General Election.
Residents should be taken care of
It’s definitely regrettable that Ms Raessah has stepped down as an MP in light of recent investigations.
However, any worry that residents may have may be assauged by the fact that her duties have been taken care of by other party members previously.
As for minority representation in Parliament, as it’s been determined that there need not be a by-election, it’s definitely a net loss.
Unless someone challenges the status quo, WP and minorities will have one less MP representing them going forward.
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Featured image adapted from Sengkang GRC on Facebook.
