---
title: "PAP elects top leadership, no new names among 14 members announced"
url: "/trending-now/pap-elects-top-leadership-no-new-names-among-14-members-announced"
published: "2026-10-25T05:05:54.000Z"
updated: "2026-10-25T05:05:54.000Z"
section: "Trending Now"
tags: ["politics","Singapore Cabinet","POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT","TNP News"]
---

# PAP elects top leadership, no new names among 14 members announced

Ng Wei Kai
The Straits Times
Oct  25, 2026

The PAP re-elected its top leadership with no new names among the 14 members of its central executive committee (CEC) announced on Oct 25.

After the vote during the party’s biennial conference that morning party chairman Desmond Lee announced the top 12 vote-getters, which for the first time included Minister for National Development Chee Hong Tat.

He had been co-opted to the previous CEC in 2024 and held the position of assistant treasurer.

The other 11 were Lawrence Wong, Lee Hsien Loong, Chan Chun Sing, Masagos Zulkifli, K. Shanmugam, Grace Fu, Edwin Tong, Indranee Rajah, Ong Ye Kung, Vivian Balakrishnan and Lee.

Lee also announced that ministers Tan See Leng and Zaqy Mohamad were co-opted into the leadership body, by party custom, as next two highest vote-getters outside of the top 12.

All 14 were on an earlier list of 19 candidates released by the party for cadres to consider at the vote that morning.

The five others included first-term ministers Jeffrey Siow and Jasmin Lau, who had made it onto the list of recommended candidates for the first time.

The other three were Alex Yam, Sim Ann and Josephine Teo.

Siow and Lau, who are first-term MPs elected at the 2025 general election, were two of three new to the list of 19 recommended candidates.

The other was Zaqy, who is Acting minister-in-charge for Muslim Affairs. Siow is Transport Minister and Lau is Acting Manpower Minister.

Siow and Lau were promoted at a Cabinet reshuffle in July, and Zaqy was appointed acting minister days before that.

Zaqy was co-opted into the previous CEC then, but was not on the list of candidates for the previous vote in 2024.

This year’s list of 19 candidates was the same as the list from the previous party election in 2024, except for the three new names and three exceptions – Heng Swee Keat, Desmond Tan and Janil Puthucheary.

More than 2,000 cadres, who form the party’s inner circle, cast their votes at the party’s biennial conference held at the Singapore Expo on Oct 25.

This is not the CEC’s final composition.

It traditionally at its first meeting decides on appointments such as chairman and treasurer among its members, and usually co-opts another four members to reach its maximum size of 18.