WORKERS’ Party (WP) members Leon Perera and Nicole Seah have stepped down from the party, chief Pritam Singh announced on Wednesday (Jul 19).

Perera, who is a Member of Parliament for Aljunied, has also informed the Acting Speaker of Parliament that he will be stepping down as an MP.

This comes after Perera and Seah originally denied their relationship when questioned by the party leadership, until a video of them meeting was made public on Jul 17.

“The Constitution of the Workers’ Party requires candidates to be honest and frank in their dealings with the party and the people of Singapore,” said Singh during a press conference.

Singh said that he received Seah’s letter of resignation from the party on Jul 18, and received Perera’s letter of resignation on Jul 19. He added that, had Perera not offered to resign, Singh would have recommended to the party’s central executive committee (CEC) that he be expelled.

Perera, 53, and Seah, 36, are both married and were on the WP’s 15-member CEC. Seah had also been the president of the party’s youth wing.

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In his resignation letter, Perera apologised to WP and his constituents in Aljunied for “falling short of the standards expected of me”.

“I also apologise for not being forthcoming with information when this issue arose within the party and I was asked about it some time back.

“I hope to devote my time to my family in the weeks and months ahead, so as to address the hurt I have caused to them, which is my greatest regret.”

In a separate letter, Seah said she was “deeply sorry for bringing disrepute to the party’s standing and hard work of its members and volunteers”.

“My actions were selfish and reckless. In pursuing impropriety, I have caused grave disappointment to the voters of East Coast GRC, and a significant base of members and volunteers who have sacrificed their personal time and resources to support the extensive groundwork we have done over the last few years,” she added.

WP chairman Sylvia Lim said the remaining Aljunied GRC MPs have been rostered to take over Perera’s meet-the-people sessions in the Serangoon division. As for the other duties and groundwork, the MPs will be meeting volunteers soon to work out details.

The resignations came after a 15-second video clip, which appeared to show Perera sharing an intimate moment with Seah, was shared widely on social media on Monday. WP said then that it was looking into the clip circulating online that “suggests an inappropriate exchange between two senior party members”.

The following day, The Straits Times reported that rumours of an affair between the pair had been swirling within party circles since late 2020 and early 2021, and the issue was brought up to party leaders around early 2021.

Singh said that around that time, he had indeed been informed by Perera’s driver of meetings between Seah and Perera, but there was “no evidence” to support this. Singh asked Perera “if anything was going on” between him and Seah, which Perera denied.

The driver shared similar information with other WP members, who all sought to verify this with Perera. Separately, other CEC members approached Seah, and Seah similarly said there was no truth to the allegations.

“When the video of Nicole and Leon emerged on Monday, that was the first time all of us saw it,” said Singh.

He met Perera and Seah separately that afternoon, and both confirmed that they had had an affair which started after the 2020 general elections, but had stopped some time ago.

During the press conference, Singh was asked if the party leadership had decided to take a similar approach to the People’s Action Party, which also saw two of its members – former Speaker of Parliament Tan Chuan-Jin and Tampines MP Cheng Li Hui – resign from the party over an affair.

Responding, Singh clarified that he believes Perera should be expelled not because of the affair per se, but because he had lied about the matter when first asked about it in 2021.

“The reason is because the party has an article in its constitution that it holds very, very close, and that is being frank and honest… in your dealings with the party and the people of Singapore,” said Singh. “And if you fall foul of that, then the consequences are severe,” he added.

Asked how the two resignations, in addition to the expulsion of Raeesah Khan in 2021, will affect WP’s chances at the next general election, Singh replied that it is “a bit premature” to comment how many seats the party will be contesting at the next election.

“But in terms of the screening processes, we try our best to put good candidates forward – candidates who can represent Singapore. This is something that we’ve consistently tried to do,” said Singh.

“And when you’re fielding candidates, you try your best to find out as much as you can about those individuals. However, you cannot legislate for what they will do after they become candidates.”