SINGAPORE: In one moment during the People’s Action Party’s (PAP) manifesto launch on Thursday (Apr 17), Prime Minister Lawrence Wong addressed party activists in front of a large screen displaying 116 candidates standing side to side. 

He was introducing PAP’s pledge offering a fresh team with a new resolve amid a changed world. “We deliver this promise as Team PAP,” said Mr Wong, as the screen revealed the party’s full slate, comprising familiar party members and political newcomers.

But keen-eyed observers may have spotted three faces in the matrix of portraits who were not among the 32 new candidates individually introduced by Mr Wong in his speech.

They could be part of a backup slate of candidates, political experts told CNA. 

There are only 97 seats up for grabs in the coming elections. Some of the 116 individuals pictured are unlikely to or will not contest, including Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen who on Friday announced his retirement from politics. 

Two of them, Mr Ahmad Firdaus Daud, 42, and Mr Mustaffa Kamal, 40, have yet to be identified in the media. 

The third person is Ms Natasha Choy, the director of youth development at NTUC.

Unlike the duo, Ms Choy, who is in her 30s, had been in the media’s spotlight after appearing at West Coast community events, though she was not a part of the recently announced PAP team for West Coast-Jurong West GRC, helmed by Minister for National Development Desmond Lee.

CNA has reached out...