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Singapore
This Week in AsiaPolitics

Will Singapore’s ruling party’s internal election reveal more about the future prime minister?

  • The PAP is expected to maintain the status quo in choosing its central executive committee
  • Observers are on the lookout for any clues on leadership succession, including what is in store for education minister Lawrence Wong

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Singapore's People's Action Party (PAP) has been in power since 1959. Photo: Reuters
Kok XinghuiandDewey Sim
Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and an unprecedented economic crisis, Sunday’s internal election for the leadership of Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) is expected to maintain the status quo, according to party insiders and analysts.
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They said PAP cadres were not likely to rock the boat during a crisis. Some 2,000 cadres are expected to re-elect Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to the apex of the PAP’s power structure, with six other key lieutenants – Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, and ministers Gan Kim Yong, Chan Chun Sing, K. Shanmugam, Grace Fu and Masagos Zulkifli – remaining core members of the party’s 35th central executive committee (CEC).

But there are two things pundits are looking out for: firstly, any clues on the party’s thinking about education minister Lawrence Wong, and secondly, an indication of which first-term members of parliament are destined for bigger things.

Wong is the government’s point person for Singapore’s handling of the pandemic, and has earned plaudits for his poise and eloquence in fulfilling that role.

The party has traditionally tended to co-opt rising leaders and those popular with cadres to the 18-member CEC, and Wong – a former senior bureaucrat who joined politics in 2011 – was co-opted in 2018. While he also served in the top decision-making body from 2012-2014, he was not part of it for the subsequent four years.

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Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is expected to be re-elected to the apex of the PAP’s power structure. Photo: Reuters
Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is expected to be re-elected to the apex of the PAP’s power structure. Photo: Reuters

This year, some observers said they would not be surprised if he was directly elected. Others went further to suggest he was “prime minister material”.

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