Workers' Party: Difference between revisions

Leon Perera and Raeesah Khan, both previously MPs for Sengkang GRC, have resigned, leaving their seats vacant. Since 2011, the Workers' Party has been the only opposition party with elected MPs in Parliament, playing a significant role in Singapore's political landscape.

Since the 1991 general election, the party has held the seat of Hougang. [[Low Thia Khiang]] was elected as MP for Hougang in 1991 and re-elected at the 1997, 2001 and 2006 general elections. Low moved to Aljunied GRC for the 2011 general election where he led the first team from an opposition party to win a GRC, while Yaw Shin Leong held the Hougang seat for the party. Yaw was expelled from the party in February 2012, which triggered a by-election in Hougang. The seat was retained by the Workers' Party's candidate, Png Eng Huat. On 12 December 2012, Speaker of Parliament and incumbent PAP MP for Punggol East, Michael Palmer, resigned from his seat. After the Prime Minister issued the writ of election for the Punggol East by-election, the Workers' Party announced on 14 January 2013 that Lee Li Lian, who stood in Punggol East in the 2011 general election, had been chosen to represent the party. On 26 January 2013, Lee Li Lian made history as the first woman to win a by-election. However, she narrowly lost her seat in the 2015 general election amid the massive swing towards the PAP.

A number of Workers' Party members have also served as Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMPs). Lee Siew Choh served as an NCMP from 1988 to 1991. Jeyaretnam returned to Parliament as an NCMP from 1997 to 2001 and Sylvia Lim has served as an NCMP from 2006 to 2011. Two members of the party, Gerald Giam and Yee Jenn Jong, served as NCMPs between 2011 and 2015. After the 2015 general election, the Workers' Party nominated Dennis Tan Lip Fong, its candidate in Fengshan SMC, as well as Leon Perera and Daniel Goh Pei Siong, two members of its East Coast GRC team, to serve as NCMPs in the current parliament.

=== Founding years ===

=== City Council Elections ===

Jeyaretnam was sued for slander by the Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew for comments he made at a Workers' Party election rally in 1988. Jeyaretnam lost the case and was ordered to pay Lee damages of S$260,000 plus costs.

The party also polled strongly in Eunos GRC again, losing to the PAP's team by 47.6% of the votes to 52.4%. During the election campaign, one of the Workers' Party's candidates in Eunos, Jufrie Mahmood, drew particular fire from the PAP and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, who accused him of being a Malay chauvinist, an accusation Jufrie strongly denied.

In 2001, Jeyaretnam lost his NCMP seat when he was declared bankrupt after failing to keep up with payments for damages owed from a libel suit brought by Goh Chok Tong and other PAP leaders following comments he had made at an election rally in 1997 (for which he had been ordered to pay S$100,000 plus S$20,000 in court costs).

Many observers speculated that with Low at the helm, Workers' Party would tone down its more hard-line stance and take on a more centrist outlook at the 2001 general election. Indeed, soon after Low took over, Jeyaretnam and a faction which was loyal to him left the party (and later formed the Reform Party), and a group of new, younger members were recruited by the Workers' Party. Among them were James Gomez, Yaw Shin Leong and Sylvia Lim.

During the 2006 election campaign, controversy arose over one of the Workers' Party's candidates in Aljunied GRC, James Gomez, who claimed that the Elections Department had lost his minority race candidate's certificate, and was forced to apologise when closed-circuit television evidence showed that he had placed the form in his briefcase without submitting it. The PAP attacked Gomez for the incident, with Lee Kuan Yew publicly calling him a "liar". One day after the election, Gomez was prevented from leaving Singapore on a trip to Stockholm and questioned by police over whether he had committed criminal intimidation in his dealings with the Elections Department. He was subsequently released after being given a warning, and was allowed travel to Stockholm.

=== 2011 General Elections and Aljunied GRC breakthrough ===

On 7 May 2011, six Workers' Party candidates were returned as Members of Parliament. Yaw successfully retained the party stronghold of Hougang with a majority slightly under 65%, while Low, Sylvia Lim, Chen Show Mao, Muhamad Faisal Manap and [[Pritam Singh]] were victorious in Aljunied Group Representation Constituency, claiming 54.71% of the votes to unseat the incumbent PAP team which included two cabinet ministers, including the Foreign Minister George Yeo. Including overseas votes, the percentage of valid votes cast in favour of the Workers' Party team was 54.72%.

On 12 June 2011, the Workers' Party launched its grassroots arm for Aljunied GRC, called the Aljunied Constituency Committee. It also combined the Hougang and Aljunied town councils to form the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.

=== Hougang and Punggol East By-Elections ===

The Workers' Party announced that it would contest 28 seats, an increase of 5 from GE 2011, and slightly under a third of the 89 parliamentary seats.

During a walkabout, party Chairman, Sylvia Lim, confirmed that all its elected MPs from the last Election (and by-elections) will be defending their respective wards:

=== 2016 Leadership Renewal ===

On 7 June 2016, the party appointed Pritam Singh as Assistant Secretary-General.

On 29 September 2017, the party's headquarters were relocated from Syed Alwi Road to the Teambuild Centre, located at Geylang Road.

=== 2020 General Election ===

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[[Category:Political Parties]]

[[Category:WP]]