People's Action Party (PAP) cadres yesterday re-elected 12 familiar faces, most of them senior Cabinet ministers, to the party's highest decision-making body.
Besides the 12 nominees for the central executive committee (CEC) with the highest number of votes, two other members who received the 13th- and 14th-highest votes at the party's biennial conference were co-opted into the CEC, as is party practice, for a two-year term.
They are Minister for Social and Family Development Tan Chuan-Jin - who was among the top 12 at the 2014 conference - and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, who is not in the outgoing CEC.
The 14 CEC members remain largely unchanged from the outgoing slate. The only new name is Dr Balakrishnan, who replaces Defence Minister Ng Eng Hen.
Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob, who had either the 13th- or 14th-highest vote in 2014, emerged among the top 12 this round.
The members were elected by secret ballot by some 2,000 cadres from a list of 17 nominees.
The other CEC members, in no particular order of the votes they received, are Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Deputy Prime Ministers Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and Cabinet ministers Khaw Boon Wan, Yaacob Ibrahim, Lim Swee Say, K. Shanmugam, Gan Kim Yong, Chan Chun Sing, Grace Fu and Heng Swee Keat.
The Straits Times understands that the other nominees were National Development Minister Lawrence Wong and Education Ministers Ng Chee Meng (Schools) and Ong Ye Kung (Higher Education and Skills). Dr Ng Eng Hen was not on the ballot.
Before the results were announced, PM Lee told party members he was happy that several younger leaders had been elected into the CEC two years back.
"I hope this time more of them will be elected into the CEC, and they will progressively take over from me and my older colleagues."
The PAP is expected to co-opt up to four more members into the CEC in the coming weeks.
Nur Asyiqin Mohamad Salleh
