One year after GE2025: WP put on the defensive by internal and external pressures

SINGAPORE - The formal reprimand that the Workers’ Party issued to its leader on the evening of April 30 caps off a string of challenges for the party within a year of the 2025 General Election.

After May 3, 2025, the WP consolidated its constituencies and gained a foothold in new areas with two Non-Constituency MP seats.

For a while, it seemed the party might continue its ascendance and entrench itself as the pre-eminent opposition force in Singapore with its largest-ever contingent of MPs.

But what followed was internal and external pressures that put the WP on the defensive, draining the party’s bandwidth at a time when it would have preferred to build on its parliamentary presence and groundwork.

A disgruntled faction also triggered doubts about the party’s unity and support for its embattled leader Pritam Singh, for whom a cloud had already formed prior to GE2025.

In February 2025, two months before the polls were called, Mr Singh was found guilty in court of perjury and fined $14,000.

The conviction was the latest development in a saga that started in 2021, when then WP MP Raeesah Khan made up an anecdote in Parliament about a sexual assault case.

While Ms Khan later admitted to lying and eventually resigned, a parliamentary committee looking into the matter found that Mr Singh had played a part in prolonging her deception.

Yet at the polls, the WP held on to all of its constituencies and did better in two, despite the national vote swing towards the People’s Action Party.

The election outcome suggested that the court case did not significantly dent the fortunes of either Mr Singh or the party at the ballot box.

But the case’s political fallout continued after the polls, becoming the main narrative surrounding the WP in the past year.

Mr Singh’s appeal against his conviction was ultimately upheld by the High Court in December 2025, triggering a period of uncertainty for the party.

As 2026 began, Leader of the House Indranee Rajah moved a motion in Parliament to declare the WP chief unsuitable as Leader of the Opposition (LO) – a role formally designated for the first time in Singapore’s history after the WP’s electoral success in the 2020 General Election.

He was declared unfit as LO by a majority vote, leading to his removal from the role by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

The WP leadership chose to counter this by arguing that the motion was driven not by principles but by political motivation, and stood firmly behind him.

All 11 WP MPs who were present in Parliament – including Mr Singh – voted against the motion.

Party chair Sylvia Lim and Mr Singh’s other fellow Aljunied GRC MPs Gerald Giam and Kenneth Tiong were among those who called the motion partisan.

WP subsequently refused PM Wong’s offer to nominate someone else to be LO.

The loss of the LO post came ahead of the Budget debates in Parliament. It meant no more additional allowance, staffing and speaking time, among other privileges that came with the office – a cost the WP would have considered before its refusal.

This resulted in diminished visibility for Mr Singh and the party at a key platform to showcase its policy chops and convince voters of its parliamentary contributions.

With the latest letter of reprimand, the party leadership has once again chosen to close ranks behind Mr Singh, signalling its assessment that there are more benefits than costs to keeping him at the helm.

The punishment, announced on April 30, concluded a three-month-long disciplinary probe that was convened over Mr Singh’s conviction.

The disciplinary panel, comprising Sengkang GRC MPs He Ting Ru and Jamus Lim, and former Hougang MP Png Eng Huat, found that Mr Singh had contravened the party’s Constitution.

However, the central executive committee (CEC), which accepted the findings, said it “separately considered” that Mr Singh “did not have any intention to act in a manner contrary to the principles, aims, or objects of the party, or prejudicial to the welfare of the party”.

The top decision-making body characterised his actions as “judgment calls” in justifying the decision to issue a formal reprimand, a punishment not provided for under one of the Constitution articles Mr Singh was found to have breached.

Analysts have described the reprimand as little more than a “slap on the wrist”, with some suggesting that the party could risk losing some moral authority to call for accountability in others by making an exception for its own leader.

Even though there is chatter that the decision was not unanimous, the move signals the CEC’s support for Mr Singh at a critical juncture.

It comes ahead of a special cadre members’ conference called by a group of long-time members to challenge his leadership, and the party’s biennial internal election due in June.

By choosing to weather criticism for being too lenient on someone who has been convicted, the party leadership has indicated that it views Mr Singh’s leadership as indispensable for party survival and growth at this stage of its development.

While his fate will be decided at the two big meetings ahead, Mr Singh will have a strengthened mandate to take the party forward if he manages to win over the party’s core group of members.

Since taking over as party chief in 2018, he has been largely successful in quieting internal dissent and maintaining a disciplined and cohesive front.

On the ground, the party has kept to business as usual, with Mr Singh a regular presence at weekend walkabouts even when the disciplinary probe was ongoing.

Elsewhere, from community events to house visits, even in constituencies it did not win, such as Punggol GRC and Tampines GRC, the party has sought to portray an image of strength in numbers.

The party’s resilience shows the long way it has come since Mr Singh entered politics through the historic 2011 breakthrough in Aljunied GRC. Much of this ability to bounce back now hinges on his leadership.

Mr Singh’s legal troubles also brought the issue of leadership succession to the fore.

But even those eager to unseat him cannot seem to name a clear successor.

Though the party’s younger MPs are coming into their own, they lack the stature and years of experience needed to helm the party at this stage of its development.

One year on from GE2025, the WP has its work cut out for it.

Now that the leadership has chosen to stand by Mr Singh, it will have to figure out how to counter internal and external brickbats without fragmenting.

It will also have to convince Singaporeans, in particular the swing voters, of its commitment to the accountability required of a credible alternative that can truly challenge the incumbent.