Nicole Rebecca Seah Xue Ling, popularly known as Nicole Seah, is trending number 1 soon after she was announced as one of the probable candidates from the Workers' Party (WP) for the Singapore General Election. The WP announced advertising associate director Nicole Seah, equity research analyst Louis Chua Kheng Wee, Muhammad Azhar Abdul Latip, who is self-employed, and former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Yee Jenn Jong as the prospective candidates of the party.
But among the four, 33-year-old Nicole Seah is the most talked about as she had contested earlier under a different party in 2011 but since then had moved away from politics. However, Seah and the other three are still probable candidates and the party has not confirmed if they will contest this general election.
From Reform Party to National Solidarity Party
Seah came into the limelight for the first time in 2011 when she contested the election on the National Solidarity Party (NSP) ticket. Before joining the NSP, Seah was a member of the Reform Party from 2009 to 2011. She lost the 2011 election and in August 2014, she resigned from the National Solidarity Party and said she wanted to move on and grow in other areas. Following this decision, she was nowhere to be seen during the 2015 election. She got married to Bryan, a Singaporean engineer based in Australia.
"For myself, this is not a complete departure from politics. I will just need to find a more suitable platform to contribute and give back," Sean said while resigning from the NSP.
Speaking to the media, Seah said she had come back to the WP as she believed in its leadership and its vision. She added that her return was also for her daughter who is part of the next generation of Singaporeans.
Singapore's Youngest Candidate in 2011
When Seah contested in 2011, she became the youngest female candidate contesting the general elections in Singapore. Her speeches went viral on YouTube and she was even named one of the most popular politicians of Singapore.
In the 2011 election, Seah's party secured 43.35 percent of the votes but could not capture Marine Parade GRC from the main opposition People's Action Party (PAP). This was considered a huge achievement as the incumbent PAP had secured 72.9 percent of the vote in the last election that was held in 1992 (by-election).
Education
Seah completed her graduation from the Department of Communications and New Media at the National University of Singapore (NUS). Her last job was as an executive at Starcom MediaVest Group, a brand communications company.
Apart from politics, Seah also acted in a minor role in the 2015 film 1965 opposite MediaCorp artiste Qi Yuwu.
