IN AGE, they range from 27 to 65. In background, they are a varied group, ranging from safety officers and secretaries to executives and company directors.
In all, more than 20 candidates may be fielded by the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA), said secretary-general Desmond Lim yesterday when unveiling the first group of four people it will field for the general election.
Mr Lim, 42, an engineer, is among the four. He is also the secretary-general of the Singapore Justice Party, one of two component parties in the SDA alongside the Singapore Malay National Organisation (PKMS).
Mr Lim said the unusually high number is so that if there are constituencies where no opposition party plans to stand nearer Nomination Day, the SDA will step forward so that all Singaporeans get a chance to vote. In the 2006 polls, the alliance fielded 20 candidates. But it also had four, not two, component parties then.
The others introduced yesterday were PKMS secretary-general Nazem Suki, 42, who owns a trading company; his wife and PKMS council member Noraine Anabi, 38, who works in the travel industry; and PKMS vice-president Ismail Yaacob, 45, a project consultant in a construction development company.
Mr Nazem and Madam Noraine are new candidates, but Mr Ismail stood in Brickworks GRC in the 1988 General Election on a Workers' Party ticket.
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