Reform Party to leave opposition group People’s Alliance for Reform; two parties remain

SINGAPORE – The Reform Party (RP) will withdraw from the People’s Alliance for Reform (PAR), leaving the opposition group with two of its four founding members.

The People’s Power Party (PPP)

did the same in February

ahead of the general election on May 3, while the Peoples Voice (PV) and Democratic Progressive Party remain.

RP secretary-general Kenneth Jeyaretnam announced his party’s resignation, which takes effect at the end of July, in a post on the party’s Facebook page on July 7.

“We thank Lim Tean for his leadership and wish him and the other remaining parties in PAR all the best in the future,” he said, referring to Mr Lim, secretary-general of PV and the PAR.

Mr Jeyaretnam was the chairman of the alliance.

He told The Straits Times that RP had joined the alliance “primarily for logistics reasons” and to increase its candidate numbers and be allotted airtime.

The party still believes that the opposition needs to unite to be effective, and “will be open to joining another alliance or umbrella in the future”, he added.

During the election, only political parties that fielded at least six candidates were eligible to record the two televised political broadcasts. Those with more candidates were given more airtime, ranging from four to 14 minutes. The PAR was given five minutes.

Mediacorp also hosted two televised roundtables where it invited four parties with the largest number of candidates. The PAR and Progress Singapore Party tied for fourth with 13 candidates each.

Mr Jeyaretnam said that with the election over, his party members feel they can get their message across better on their own.

“We have been encouraged by a recent influx of new members and volunteers, which makes us confident in Reform Party’s future on its own,” he said.

Mr Lim told ST that the alliance, which will retain its current name, will continue into the next election “much bigger and stronger”.

Many new members and volunteers have joined since the polls, and the party’s principles and message resonate with many, he added. The party intends to “greatly increase” its numbers in the coming years.

“We wish the Reform Party well in their future endeavours and thank them for having been part of the alliance,” said Mr Lim.

The alliance’s formation was

announced in June 2023

with hopes of “opposition unity” and reducing three-cornered fights.

But in February 2025, the PPP led by Mr Goh Meng Seng withdrew from the alliance, citing “irreconcilable strategic differences”.

Mr Lim said then that the remaining alliance members did not agree with the PPP’s insistence on contesting Tampines GRC in a four-cornered fight, and also disagreed with the

party’s position on the Covid-19 vaccine

.

The PAR eventually fielded 13 candidates in six constituencies: Jalan Besar and Tanjong Pagar GRCs and Potong Pasir, Queenstown, Radin Mas and Yio Chu Kang SMCs. Both Potong Pasir and Radin Mas saw three-cornered fights in which PAR candidates lost their deposits.

The alliance received 19.1 per cent of the votes across the six constituencies. The bulk of the candidates fielded were from PV, a party founded by Mr Lim in 2018. RP had one candidate in Queenstown – Mr Mahaboob Batcha.

PV contested 10 seats at the 2020 General Election.

The PAR held a meeting for volunteers and supporters on July 6, according to Mr Lim’s Facebook page. He said the party was “quietly rebuilding” and had learnt from the recent election.

After the session, which involved a number of PAR candidates from the 2025 election, Mr Lim said in a post that the alliance had come up with a plan which would be put into effect immediately.

“A plan is of no use to a political party unless it is able to win elections. We are confident our plan will work and you will see its implementation in the coming years,” he said.