Singapore’s Workers’ Party rejects Leader of the Opposition position

Singapore’s biggest opposition party, the Workers’ Party, has said it will not be nominating a replacement for the position of the Leader of the Opposition.In a media statement issued on Wednesday, the party said it had responded to Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s invitation to nominate another elected MP to fill the vacancy.Wong removed WP chief Pritam Singh from his position as Leader of the Opposition last Thursday, following Singh’s court conviction for lying under oath to a parliamentary committee.He was stripped of the role a day after Singapore’s Parliament voted in favour of a motion that expressed regret at Singh’s conduct, which was said to be “dishonourable and unbecoming” of an MP. Singh rejected the assertion.All 11 WP MPs present had voted against the motion despite the lifting of the party whip, while the rest of the House recorded their assent.In a letter informing WP of Singh’s removal, Wong said that the nominated replacement should not have been implicated in the earlier findings of the Committee of Privileges and had to meet the “high standards expected of this office”.