Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP) named 14 members to its new central committee on Oct. 25; all had served on the previous body, according to a roster comparison.
PAP said cadres elected 12 members to the 39th Central Executive Committee (CEC) and co-opted Tan See Leng and Zaqy Mohamad. The elected group includes Prime Minister and PAP Secretary-General Lawrence Wong, Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.
Channel NewsAsia (CNA) reported that 12 of 19 candidates won the secret ballot. It said Jeffrey Siow, Singapore’s transport minister, and Jasmin Lau, acting manpower minister, were nominated but not elected. Both are first-term members of Parliament, CNA reported. PAP’s announcement did not publish vote totals or the full ballot list.
Political observer and social and international affairs consultant Mustafa Izzuddin told CNA that a government role does not automatically bring influence among party cadres. “Just because one is in Lawrence Wong’s core team does not automatically mean that this person is also core in the eyes of party cadres,” he said.
PAP said 3,000 activists attended its Awards and Conference 2026. Wong described renewal as work that reaches beyond selecting candidates to include ideas, membership and networks. “Renewal is not just about fielding new candidates at each election,” he said.
The new committee also marks a change in status for Chee Hong Tat. PAP’s 2024 conference announcement listed him as co-opted to the 38th CEC; the latest list includes him among the 12 elected members.
PAP did not give a date for committee office appointments or say whether it would add more members. CNA reported that those announcements were expected in the coming weeks.
