According to CNA, Pritam Singh received around 80% of the votes during the special cadre conference regarding his future as secretary-general.

It was organised after 25 members signed a letter calling for it to be held following Pritam's conviction late last year, handing the power over his future to the party members.

Perhaps it was a genuine expression of protest against him, or maybe an orchestrated spectacle, so he is not accused of avoiding bringing the matter to a broader forum than the 12 MPs who stood in his support in Parliament earlier in 2026.

Whatever the reason behind it, the outcome would always be damaging to the party.

Perhaps it would have been better if it had been avoided. While it appears to be a big win for Pritam personally, everybody in Singapore now knows that 80% of WP members blindly support a person carrying a criminal conviction for lying under oath while testifying in Parliament itself.

This is no longer a huge indictment against Pritam alone but against the entire Workers' Party, which has clearly put its own interest above the interests of the nation – and above the rule of law in Singapore.

Double standards

Apparently it's not a big deal if you get convicted and lose your appeal, as long as you continue to maintain your innocence, suggested Sylvia Lim. That's enough for a convicted criminal to keep his leadership post in the largest opposition party in Singapore.

Meanwhile, PAP's candidate Ivan Lim was forced to withdraw from GE in 2020 for mere allegations, circulated by anonymous individuals on the internet, that he had been rude to some people many years earlier.

The opposition, it seems, can do no wrong, while every PAP candidate has to have a CV unblemished by as little as allegations of online trolls, which instantly trigger a wave of caterwauling from holier-than-though defenders of a now convicted criminal.

Rules for thee but not WP.

And those people see themselves as fighters for a better Singapore.

Boris Johnson had to step down from British premiership, after spending many years in the upper rungs of local politics, because of the party gatherings during Covid-19 lockdowns.

Meanwhile, neither Pritam Singh, nor 12 WP MPs, or 80% of WP's cadres think a criminal conviction for perjury should disqualify a person from leading a political party, which reportedly aims to serve Singaporeans and provide a check on the government.

It's a slap in the face to Singaporeans. Though, bizarrely, some of them appear to enjoy it.