Singapore Deputy PM Wong to lead ruling party before general election, prime minister says

A year before an election is scheduled for November 2024, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said on Sunday that he would transfer the leadership of the ruling People’s Action Party to Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong as soon as the party celebrates its 70th anniversary.

Since the party has dominated the country since its independence in 1965, it is primarily anticipated that it will continue to do so, making Wong the next premier of Singapore and its fourth in total.

Lee is the eldest child of Lee Kuan Yew, the man generally acknowledged for having founded contemporary Singapore. Since 2004, he has held the positions of party secretary-general and prime minister. Wong, the finance minister, was selected by him as his successor last year.

“There’s no need to postpone Lawrence and his team’s political transition since I have complete faith in them. “I, therefore, plan to turn over to DPM Lawrence before the next general election,” Lee declared during the party’s annual meeting.

Lee, 71, had intended to hand over the reins before turning 70, but the COVID-19 outbreak caused a delay.

In a previous address at the conference, Wong, 50, declared, “I am ready for my next assignment.”

As co-leader of the government’s COVID-19 task group, Wong gained prominence and received accolades for containing the virus and reducing fatalities by enforcing mobility restrictions, border limits, and contact tracking.

Before taking on the roles of finance minister in 2021 and deputy prime minister the previous year, he managed the ministries of national development and education while serving as Lee’s chief private secretary from 2005 to 2008.

In addition, Wong serves as head of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, the central bank of the country in Southeast Asia, and deputy chairman of the sovereign wealth fund GIC.

“BOLD STEP”
While some commentators praised the “bold move” of changing leadership before the next general election, the majority expressed skepticism over the potential effects on political stability.

Political scientist Walid Jumblatt Abdullah of Nanyang Technological University stated, “The safer thing to do for the party would be for Lee to hand over after the general election and give Wong time to build rapport with the electorate.”

However, he indicated that Lee will likely continue to serve in the government in some form, so turning over power early is unlikely to impact stability.

In the 2020 election, the ruling party secured 83 out of 93 parliamentary seats. However, because the election was conducted amid a pandemic, the opposition’s percentage of the popular vote fell to an almost all-time low, and their 10-seat win was unprecedented.

According to political scientist Chong Ja Ian of the National University of Singapore, “the significance is that Wong will have to win his own mandate (in the next election).”