Fresh election due for S’pore’s biggest motor traders’ group after appeal court voids 2024 polls

Association and its president criticised for mishandling row over who can vote for exco

- Vanessa Paige Chelvan Correspondent

The Republic’s largest motor traders’ association will have to hold a fresh election, after the appellate division of the High Court ruled that the two polls held in 2024 to elect the group’s next executive committee (exco) were invalid.

In its judgment released on Nov 11, the court dismissed an appeal by Singapore Vehicle Traders Association (SVTA) president Neo Tiam Ting, upholding an earlier High Court decision that elections held in May and June 2024 were null and void.

The appellate judges ordered that each party bear its own legal costs, overturning the earlier cost orders against Mr Neo.

The decision means that SVTA’s 26th exco, whose two-year term began in 2022, remains in office and is authorised to conduct a new, properly convened election for the next term.

SVTA, a collective of nearly 400 secondhand motor vehicle traders, was set up in 1972. Mr Neo was elected president of SVTA in 2022, and was reelected in 2024 for a second two-year term. He was also the association’s president from 2011 to 2015.

The association took Mr Neo to court in 2024. Their quarrel stemmed from their differing views about who SVTA members may appoint as representatives to vote at a general meeting and for an exco.