Singapore PM accepts Workers’ Party’s rejection of Leader of the Opposition role
The PMO says the LO office will ‘remain vacant until such time that the WP is ready to nominate someone to take on this responsibility’
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Wednesday accepted the Workers’ Party’s (WP) rejection of his invitation to nominate a replacement for the Leader of the Opposition (LO) role, saying that it would be left vacant.
In a statement hours after the WP turned down the offer, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said: “The office of the LO will therefore remain vacant until such time that the WP is ready to nominate someone to take on this responsibility.”
The PMO agreed that the leader of the main opposition party in parliament was the natural choice for the LO, but called the removal of WP chief Pritam Singh from the role over a lying conviction an “exceptional situation”.
It said Singh had been criminally convicted and parliament had resolved that he was unsuitable to continue in the role.
“In other jurisdictions, members convicted of crimes involving dishonesty or lying under oath would ordinarily have resigned. This has not happened here,” the PMO said.
The WP earlier said in its statement that the appointment of the LO was typically extended to the largest opposition party in parliament, or was decided by the opposition party in question.