The People's Action Party's (PAP) new central executive committee (CEC) has been named, with none of the newcomers elected at the last general election and subsequently appointed as political office-holders among its 14 members.

Thousands of PAP cadres elected members of the party's 39th CEC at its biennial CEC election during the party's cadre conference on Sunday (25 October) morning.

Nine of the 14 members will hold posts within the committee. These appointments will be decided through an internal election, which is usually held within two weeks to a month.

Besides Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, the PAP's current secretary-general, those elected to the new CEC are (not ranked by number of votes):

  • Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong

  • Coordinating Minister for Public Services and Minister for Defence Chan Chun Sing

  • Minister for Social and Family Development Masagos Zulkifli

  • Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs K Shanmugam

  • Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu

  • Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat

  • Minister for Law and Second Minister for Home Affairs Edwin Tong

  • Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Indranee Rajah

  • Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung

  • Minister for Foreign Affairs Dr Vivian Balakrishnan

  • Minister for Education Desmond Lee

Minister for Energy, Trade and Industry Dr Tan See Leng and Acting Minister-in-charge of Muslim Affairs and Senior Minister of State in the Ministry of Defence Zaqy Mohamad received the 13th- and 14th-highest vote totals respectively and were immediately co-opted into the CEC.

In total, 19 people were nominated. The other five are Minister for Digital Development and Information Josephine Teo, Second Minister for Foreign Affairs and Home Affairs Sim Ann, Alex Yam, executive director of the People’s Action Party headquarters and Mayor of the North West District, and two new political office-holders: Minister for Transport and Second Minister for Finance Jeffrey Siow, and Acting Minister for Manpower and Senior Minister of State for Digital Development and Information Jasmin Lau.

Under the PAP's constitution, the new CEC may co-opt up to four additional members when it meets.

Dr Mustafa Izzuddin, a senior international affairs analyst at Solaris Strategies Singapore, said it was unsurprising that party cadres were in no hurry to change the composition of the CEC, as they wanted continuity and stability in the leadership amid global challenges.

Commenting on three new political office-holders — Siow and Lau, who were not elected, and David Neo, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Education, who was not nominated — Mustafa said election to the CEC depended on how well party cadres knew and supported them. Being part of the team governing the country did not guarantee a place on the committee.

He said that, having only recently entered politics, it might still be too early for them at this stage, but they could still be co-opted onto the CEC.

Associate Professor Eugene Tan of Singapore Management University’s Yong Pung How School of Law said Siow and Lau were still new faces to party cadres and could not be expected to command strong popularity and standing at this stage. However, both were expected to be co-opted onto the CEC as part of leadership renewal.