SINGAPORE, Jan 22 — The office of Singapore’s Leader of the Opposition (LO) will remain vacant after the Workers’ Party (WP) said it was “unable to accept” Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s invitation to nominate a new leader for the post, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) confirmed.
The political standoff began on January 15 when PM Wong removed WP chief Pritam Singh as the LO, citing Pritam’s recent court conviction for lying to Parliament and a subsequent parliamentary motion that found him unsuitable for the role, The Straits Times reported.
In a statement, the WP argued that the only “tenable candidate” for the LO position is the leader of the largest opposition party in Parliament — in this case, Pritam. As such, the party said it could not nominate another of its elected MPs for the role.
The PMO, in its response, acknowledged that the leader of the main opposition party is the “natural choice” but described the current situation as “exceptional.”
“Mr Singh has been criminally convicted by the courts of lying to Parliament, and Parliament has resolved that his conviction and conduct render him unsuitable to continue in the role,” the PMO said, adding that in other jurisdictions, a member convicted of such a crime would ordinarily have resigned.
The PMO stressed that Singaporeans place a high premium on honesty and integrity in their political system.
“Members of Parliament, especially those in leadership positions, must exemplify these values and uphold the integrity of our system,” it added.
The WP, however, maintained that while the LO appointment is a discretionary one made by the prime minister, convention dictates that it should be extended to the leader of the largest opposition party.
