Nicole Seah

Nicole Rebecca Seah Xue Ling (born 17 October 1986) is a former Singaporean politician.

Seah was born in Singapore on 17 October 1986 in a Peranakan family.

She attended CHIJ Katong Convent, Tanjong Katong Secondary School and Victoria Junior College before graduating from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Social Sciences with honours degree in communications.

She was also part of the University Scholars' Programme.

This was the first time an opposition party had contested this GRC since 1992.

This was several weeks after the PAP announced that their five-person team contesting Marine Parade GRC would include 27-year-old Tin Pei Ling, leading to immediate media attention to the contest of two young women, both contesting parliament seats for the first time.

Tin had been facing online criticism since her candidature was announced, and – partially in response to Tin's positioning – Seah's popularity has grown tremendously, according to Jon Russell of Asia Sentinel, who added that "her popularity [is] testament to many choosing her as their preferred 'youth' candidate in the election".

Her popularity has been referred to as "rockstar"-like by The Straits Times.

Yahoo! News commented that Seah appeared to upstage other members of the NSP and of her constituency team.

On 27 April, Goh Chok Tong, former prime minister and Seah's opponent from the People's Action Party (PAP) team, complained that "I look at NSP and they appear to have only one person in charge and the four men are leaving it to the young lady to campaign and say all the things".

The party was also referred to as the "Nicole Seah Party".

Seah responded, "The NSP is all about teamwork. There are many different areas that everyone can contribute and that's how we synergise and bring our talents together to the table."

Nevertheless, this was seen as a huge achievement as the incumbent PAP had won 72.9% of the vote in the last election, which was the 1992 by-election.

Also, the PAP team was helmed by a popular former Prime Minister, Goh Chok Tong.

Indeed, the PAP's winning percentage was lower than the national PAP average.

Goh later gave his thoughts on the election result in an interview with the Straits Times in which he stated that he had expected better results and cited Seah as a factor for the NSP's good showing.

During the election, Seah lodged a police report against PAP candidate Tin Pei Ling for breach of the state-mandated cooling-off period 24 hours before polls, she was subsequently revealed to allegedly committed the same offence and were both issued a stern warning from the police.

After the election, Seah made an online appeal for donations for her campaign on her Facebook account.

Seah rose to prominence as a candidate representing the National Solidarity Party (NSP) in Marine Parade GRC in the 2011 general election.

At the age of 24, she was the youngest female candidate standing in the election, and immediately became a target of media attention, which became increasingly pronounced as her speeches began to go viral on YouTube.

During the election, her number of social media followers rendered her being described as the second most popular Singaporean politician online after Lee Kuan Yew.

She used to stay in a five-room HDB flat with her parents and two brothers, when she was introduced as the youngest candidate in the 2011 general election.

Seah previously worked as an executive at Starcom MediaVest Group, a brand communications company.

Seah worked as a senior account manager with IPG Mediabrands.

Before the 2011 general election, Seah was involved with the Reform Party since 2009, but left in early February 2011 along with many other party members.

She was invited to join the NSP by Goh Meng Seng, then the NSP's secretary-general.

Seah was announced as a member of the five-person NSP team contesting in the Marine Parade GRC in the 2011 Singaporean general election on 21 April 2011.

Seah's team captured 43.35% of the vote and did not manage to wrest Marine Parade GRC from the PAP in the 2011 election.

On 23 May 2011, the NSP issued a public clarification statement and supported her actions.

On 30 July 2011, Seah endorsed presidential candidate Tan Jee Say, saying that "We need a President who is intellectual, who is a brilliant thinker, and not only that, someone who has a heart for the people and who can represent Singapore on the greater world stage."

She had appeared as a guest speaker at Tan's presidential rally on 23 August 2011 and also as a counting agent during the campaign.

On 29 August 2014, Seah resigned from the NSP, "to move on and grow in other areas."

In 2014, Seah moved to Bangkok, Thailand, to work as a digital manager at the company's Thailand office.

A former member of the opposition Workers' Party (WP), Seah contested in the 2020 general election but lost to the governing People's Action Party (PAP) by a close margin.

Seah resigned from the Worker's Party on 17 July 2023 due to an extramarital affair with party member, Leon Perera.

In 2020, Seah became a candidate of the Workers' Party (WP) contesting in East Coast GRC in the 2020 general election, and lost by a close margin of 6.78% to the People's Action Party (PAP) team led by Heng Swee Keat.

In 2020, Seah was an associate director at a multinational marketing company.

Seah has been involved in community activities and volunteering since secondary school.

Her interest in politics was sparked by a meeting with a destitute woman, who – despite having a roof over her head – had no money for food, and was completely dependent on handouts from charity.

While in NUS, she was the managing editor of an online publication called the Campus Observer.