Singapore’s largest opposition party has decided to stand by its leader, voting to keep Pritam Singh in the role of secretary-general despite a court conviction that cost him his official parliamentary designation earlier this year.
The Workers’ Party held a meeting on Sunday where Singh addressed members and fielded their questions regarding his conviction before the vote was taken. A supermajority of the party’s cadres backed Singh in the decision, according to Workers’ Party Central Executive Committee member Gerald Giam, who spoke to local media.
“This decision reflects the considered judgment of the Party’s cadres, and the Party’s commitment to democratic principles and due process,” the party said in an official statement.
In February 2025, a Singapore court found Singh guilty of providing false testimony to a parliamentary committee in 2021 concerning a fellow party member. He had appealed the ruling, but the High Court rejected that appeal in December of last year.
Following the conviction, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong removed Singh from the designated role of Leader of the Opposition in January of this year, stating that Singh’s position had become impossible to maintain. In Singapore, it is the head of government — not the constitution or parliament’s standing orders — who designates who holds the Leader of the Opposition title.
Wong had urged the Workers’ Party to put forward a different lawmaker, one not connected to the controversy, to fill the opposition leader role. The party, which secured 10 seats in last year’s general election, declined to nominate anyone else. The party maintained in January that whoever leads the largest opposition bloc in parliament should naturally hold the Leader of the Opposition designation.
The position carries meaningful benefits and responsibilities, including additional financial allowance, dedicated staff support, and access to confidential government briefings.
