Workers' Party (WP) chief Low Thia Khiang has urged his party's volunteers to stay hopeful as he encouraged them to pick themselves up after the party's drubbing at the Sept 11 elections.

At a lunch to thank them on Sunday, he said in Mandarin: "It is okay to be disappointed, but we should not despair. Many of our supporters are still rooting for us, and waiting for us to move forward again and scale new heights."

WP candidate and former Punggol East MP Lee Li Lian, 37, sharing Mr Low's quote in a Facebook post yesterday, said he was speaking about the "Workers' Party spirit".

The party saw its vote share slip about six points in last month's General Election, winning just six of the 28 seats it contested.

It retained Aljunied GRC and Hougang with a lower vote share, lost Punggol East, and failed in its other challenges elsewhere.

While it had done the best among opposition parties, the WP's performance was well below the expectations of observers and supporters who were palpably disappointed after the results were released.

Volunteer S. K. Cheah, in his 50s, who was at the lunch, said: "It was apt for Mr Low to remind us that there are still people out there who appreciated what we did... so we owe it to them to soldier on."

He has been volunteering with the party since 2011, and plans to continue doing so, he added.

The party's election candidates also took to Facebook to thank their helpers and volunteers.

WP Non-Constituency MP Dennis Tan, 45, who polled 42.5 per cent of the vote in Fengshan SMC, wrote: "Big thank you to all of you who gave up so much of your own time for the campaign and also to your understanding spouses, families and colleagues. Let us all continue to 'hammer on' to serve the country we love!"

Meanwhile, the WP's youth wing held elections for its top decision-making committee last Saturday.

Two of the party's Nee Soon GRC candidates - sales consultant Cheryl Denise Loh, 32, and property agent Ron Tan, 30 - were among the new faces voted into the committee.