at the close of the nomination (on january 16), lee faced a rare four-cornered contest between pap's koh poh koon (a colorectal surgeon who joined the party three months prior), the sda's lim, and a fourth candidate, the reform party's secretary-general kenneth jeyaretnam. on 26 january, lee won the election with 16,045 votes (54.50%), with her rivals koh, jeyaretnam and lim, received 12,875 (43.73%), 353 (1.20%) and 168 votes (0.57%), respectively. this win marked the second time after the 1981 by-election the wp had captured another parliamentary seat after a by-election, and lee was also the first female candidate to control a smc. upon her win, lee told the media that her immediate priority as member of parliament would be to ensure the smooth handover of the town council from the ruling pap. lee was sworn in as a member of parliament on 4 february 2013.