PAP to renew leadership at party conference

SM Lee expected to step down as party chief, paving way for PM Wong to take over

- Goh Yan Han Political Correspondent and Ng Wei Kai

All eyes are on the PAP this weekend as it gathers to renew its top decision-making body, paving the way for Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to become party chief ahead of Singapore's next general election.

On Nov 24, the ruling party's inner circle will choose its 38th Central Executive Committee (CEC), which is re-elected every two years at the biennial People's Action Party conference.

Political observers expect Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong to step down from the party's top post of secretary-general, setting the stage for PM Wong to become party leader at the CEC's next meeting. This is customarily held within a few weeks of the conference.

While the party's CEC is not directly related to the Government, the 12 members elected this weekend will form the nucleus that will helm the PAP heading into the next general election, which must be held by November 2025.

COMPLETING THE TRANSITION FROM 3G TO 4G

SM Lee could announce this weekend that he will be handing over the party's reins, based on past precedent.

He became PAP secretary-general in November 2004, three months after being sworn in as the country's third prime minister in August.

At that year's PAP conference, then Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong stated his intention to step down as party chief.

Weeks later, in early December, the party announced that then Prime Minister Lee had been appointed as the new secretary-general following the new CEC's first meeting.

This was a quicker timetable than the previous handover to Mr Goh from then Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew.

The former became prime minister in November 1990, but assumed the post of party secretary-general only in 1992.