Snap Insight: Pritam Singh prevails in leadership vote but must demonstrate he is not bigger than WP
The Workers’ Party and its chief can now draw a clear line over the Raeesah Khan saga and focus on the future, says SMU law professor Eugene K B Tan.
Mr Pritam Singh speaking to the media on Jun 28, 2026. (Photo: CNA/Mak Jia Kee)
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SINGAPORE: It comes as no surprise that Workers’ Party (WP) secretary-general Pritam Singh easily prevailed at his party’s special cadres conference and the party elections on Sunday (Jun 28).
Going into Sunday, Mr Singh was never really at risk of losing the position he has held since 2018, given that the central executive committee, its top decision-making body, and Mr Singh’s respected predecessor Mr Low Thia Khiang, were solidly behind him.
The reality is that no one could match Mr Singh’s popularity within the party as well as his electoral pulling power that has seen the WP occupy the comfortable perch as the leading opposition party that is as competitive as the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) when the two parties go head-to-head in elections.
Mr Singh has now tightened his grip on the WP and is well placed to mould the WP further in his image and style. Dissenters there will also be, but they do not command the numbers that will enable them to challenge Mr Singh’s dominance.
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A PARTY REVITALISED
For Mr Singh and the WP, Sunday’s two conferences now mean that a clear line has been drawn over the troubled saga arising from then WP Sengkang Member of Parliament Raeesah Khan’s lies to Parliament in 2021.
This resulted in Ms Khan and Mr Singh (as well as WP chair Sylvia Lim and vice-chair Faisal Manap) being hauled before Parliament’s Committee of Privileges (CoP) and subsequently Mr Singh’s court convictions in 2025 on two charges of lying to the CoP.
Subsequently, Mr Singh was removed as Leader of the Opposition (LO) by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in January, and the WP issued a formal letter of reprimand in April after its internal disciplinary process.
This issue had been the proverbial albatross on WP’s and Mr Singh’s necks.
With Sunday’s central executive committee (CEC) election, which saw Mr Singh not only re-elected but unopposed as secretary-general, we will see the party revitalised. This matter is now once and for all over within the party.
With the renewed mandate from the cadres, Mr Singh can now put the matter behind him and get the party and its supporters focused on the next general election, which must be held at the latest in December 2030.
This matter will not dog the party at the next general election; it would be foolish for the PAP to flog this dead horse. To its credit, the PAP did not make it an election issue at the 2025 General Election.
“CANNOT AFFORD TO MAKE A WRONG STEP”
Arguably, the WP came out looking better on Sunday: Dissenters could air their unhappiness or even grievances and hold the top leadership to account, and the party closed ranks and decided to retain the status quo.
Notwithstanding the differences among the cadres, they were mindful to ensure that they did not inflict further reputational damage to the party.
It should not surprise anyone that Mr Singh adopted a conciliatory, even contrite, posture – rather than a combative one – to an internal audience. He had the numbers to prevail at both proceedings, and so there was no need for a war of attrition.
In its press statement after the CEC election, Mr Singh reaffirmed that the WP continued “to work for Singapore” with its focus squarely on issues “that directly impact the daily lives of Singaporeans”.
The special cadres conference was the first overt challenge to Mr Singh’s leadership. It was a chastisement of sorts but Mr Singh stamped his authority by winning a “supermajority” when it mattered.
Given the troubles over the last five years, however, Mr Singh cannot afford to make a wrong step going forward. He also has to demonstrate that he is not bigger than the party, something that his predecessor Mr Low had imbued in the party.
THE SUCCESSION ISSUE
Leadership renewal and succession will be a priority. Even if the party faithful had felt that change was necessary or desirable at the special conference, the question was who else could step up. There were no challengers to his position.
The party has been able to attract and field new candidates at every general election, but the focus must now be on who will succeed Mr Singh as party chief, even if he will only be a youthful 50 this year. Without another politically savvy, charismatic leader like Mr Singh, it could impede the party’s ambitions and growth plans.
The WP had also turned down the invitation to nominate another MP to be the Leader of the Opposition, and the position will remain vacant for the next two years.
The profile that the LO can give to the WP is a significant one and the party can use it to its strategic advantage. The LO is given the right of first response to debates on proposed Bills, policies and motions in the House. The LO is also provided with an office in Parliament, staff support and resources, as well as additional allowance to perform duties.
It would be a wasted opportunity for the WP not to profile another of its leaders even as Mr Singh continues to have an outsized presence despite no longer being the LO. But for now, all eyes are on the leading opposition party’s vision for Singapore and its policy alternatives “at a time of increasing global uncertainty”.
Eugene K B Tan is associate professor of law at the Yong Pung How School of Law, Singapore Management University. He is also a former Nominated Member of Parliament.
Source: CNA/ch
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