SINGAPORE: The Workers’ Party leadership going into the next General Election remains essentially the same, with Sylvia Lim elected again as Chair and Pritam Singh as Secretary-General.
The party held its Cadre Members’ Conference on Sunday (June 30).
It has also announced the 12 members of its Central Executive Committee (CEC), which sees the return of Lee Li Lian, who served as Member of Parliament for Punggol East SMC from 2013 to 2015.
The other CEC members include the party’s current MPs, including Gerald Giam and Muhamad Faisal Abdul Manap (Aljunied GRC); He Ting Ru, Louis Chua, and Jamus Lim (Sengkang GRC); and Dennis Tan (Hougang SMC), as well as former Aljunied MP Low Thia Khiang, who had been the WP’s Secretary-General from 2001 to 2018.
WP Youth Wing President Nathaniel Koh, Ang Boon Yaw, Tan Kong Soon, and Kenneth Foo completed the CEC.
Mr Koh contested the previous election at the Marine Parade. GRC was first elected into the WP CEC in 2022, as was Mr Ang, a lawyer who has volunteered with the party for the past 12 years.
Meanwhile, Mr Tan had first been elected to the CEC and served as a legislative assistant to Mr Low from 2013 to 2017.
The party announced in a June 30 media release that “the CEC appointment-holders will be announced in due course.
The new CEC has taken office, with a mix of members of different ages and backgrounds, and has started work with immediate effect.”
This means, among other things, that whether current Vice-Chair Faisal Manap will retain his position will be announced at a later date.
The WP had 13 members when it last elected its CEC in 2022. Two, however, stepped down last year.
Former Aljunied GRC MP Leon Perera and ex-WP Youth Wing head Nicole Seah resigned after their illicit relationship had been made public.
While the date of the next GE has not been announced, it must be held before Nov 23, 2025. However, speculation has been that it could be held as early as September.
Mr Singh, WP’s Secretary-General since 2018, was appointed Singapore’s first official Leader of the Opposition in 2020 after the WP won its second GRC and a record 10 seats in Parliament.
Ms Lim has been the party chairwoman since 2003. Like Mr Singh, she has represented Aljunied GRC in Parliament since 2011, first at Serangoon and then at Paya Lebar.
Previously, she was a Non-Constituency Parliament Member from 2006 to 2011. /TISG
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