Workers’ Party declines to nominate new Leader of the Opposition, says party chief is de facto opposition leader

[SINGAPORE] The Workers’ Party (WP) will not be putting forward another Member of Parliament to serve as Leader of the Opposition, the party said on Wednesday (Jan 21).

In a statement responding to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, the party said that it takes the view that “the leader of the largest opposition party in Parliament is the leader of the opposition”, referring to secretary-general Pritam Singh, who remains party chief despite losing his Leader of the Opposition role earlier this month.

In its statement, WP noted that in Westminster systems, the Leader of the Opposition title is typically established by law rather than being “the prerogative or choice of the government of the day or the prime minister”.

“This approach expresses the authority and sanctity of the people’s vote,” the party said, adding that it would “continue to focus on (its) primary duty, to work for Singaporeans and provide a rational, responsible and respectable check on the government”.

Singh was appointed to the role in 2020, after WP won 10 seats in that year’s general election. The party holds 10 elected seats and two Non-Constituency MP seats, giving it 12 representatives and making it the only opposition group in Parliament.

PM Wong removed Singh from the Leader of the Opposition role on Jan 15, a day after Parliament voted to declare him “unsuitable” for the post following his conviction for lying to a parliamentary committee.

At that time, PM Wong had invited WP to elect another of its MPs to take over the position.

“Exceptional situation”

In a statement on Wednesday evening, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said that the government accepts WP’s decision. The Leader of the Opposition position “will therefore remain vacant until such a time that the WP is ready to nominate someone to take on this responsibility”.

It added: “The leader of the main opposition in Parliament is indeed the natural choice to serve as the Leader of Opposition.

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“However, we are in an exceptional situation. Mr Singh has been criminally convicted by the courts of lying to Parliament, and Parliament has resolved that his conviction and conduct render him unsuitable to continue in the role.”

PMO said: “In other jurisdictions, members convicted of crimes involving dishonesty or lying under oath would ordinarily have resigned. This has not happened here.”