Singapore — The 10 Workers’ Party (WP) candidates who were elected in the recent General Election were sworn in at the opening of the 14th Parliament on Monday (Aug 24).
Sharing photos of the MPs outside Parliament House in a post published on the WP’s Facebook page, the party said: “A new chapter begins. Today, 10 elected MPs from The Workers’ Party will take their place in the 14th Parliament.
“We will make your vote count, and continue to strive for a better Singapore.
“On this important day, we would also like to thank the spouses and partners of our MPs, for supporting us in all that we do, and for walking with Singapore too.”
“Make Your Vote Count” was the WP’s slogan for its election campaign. It had, like other opposition parties, expressed the fear that the opposition would be wiped out since the Prime Minister had called the elections in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic and had asked Singaporeans to give his People’s Action Party a stronger mandate given the uncertain future ahead.
However, the WP won an unprecedented 10 seats in the elections, in the process wresting another multi-member ward from the PAP that had three political office-holders.
The WP’s victory was even more surprising because it was the first time its candidates had gone to the polls without former party chief Low Thia Khiang and incumbent MP Png Eng Huat.
The victory also showed that the WP had gained significant ground in its first election under party chief Pritam Singh, who had been elected as Secretary-General in 2018. In another first in the history of Singapore, Mr Singh was designated after the WP’s electoral gains as the official Leader of the Opposition.
Mr Singh and the nine other winning WP electoral candidates were sworn in by President Halimah Yacob at the opening of Parliament on Monday (Aug 24). /TISG