The People's Action Party (PAP) is a major conservative political party in Singapore and is the contemporary governing political party represented in the Parliament of Singapore, followed by the opposition Workers' Party (WP).
The PAP was established in 1954 as a conventional centre-left party. Following its initial electoral success in 1959, Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew sought to reposition the party ideologically toward the centre. In pursuit of this objective, he expelled the party's leftist faction, which reorganised as Barisan Sosialis, in 1961, during the period of Singapore's merger with Malaysia. Over the course of the 1960s and since then, the PAP continued its ideological shift towards the centre-right. After Singapore's separation from Malaysia and subsequent independence in 1965, the majority of opposition parties, excluding the WP, boycotted the 1968 general election. Consequently, the PAP secured all parliamentary seats in that election. In the ensuing decades, the PAP consolidated its political dominance through successive electoral victories. It consistently formed the executive branch of government and exerted substantial influence over key national institutions, including the country's sole trade union, the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC), which is affiliated with the party, as well as the civil service.
Between 1965 and 1981, the PAP was the sole political party represented in Parliament. This period of exclusive representation ended with the party's first electoral defeat in a 1981 by-election in the Anson Constituency, where the WP secured the seat. Despite this setback, the PAP has retained its political dominance. In every subsequent general election, the party consistently garnered over 60 percent of the popular vote and secured more than 80 percent of parliamentary seats, achieving landslide victories on each occasion. Having governed continuously for 67 years, the PAP remains the dominant political force in Singapore, effectively operating within the framework of a de facto one-party state. It has maintained an unbroken two-thirds parliamentary supermajority enabling it to amend the Constitution at will. As of 2025, the PAP is the longest-serving uninterrupted ruling party among contemporary multi-party parliamentary democracies and holds the second-longest tenure of any governing party in modern history, surpassed solely by Mexico's Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which governed from 1929 to 2000.
Positioned on the centre-right of Singapore's political spectrum, the PAP espouses a combination of social conservatism and economic liberalism. The party generally advocates free-market principles, favouring policies such as low taxation, the absence of tariffs, limited government expenditure relative to gross domestic product (GDP), minimal economic regulation and the promotion of economic freedom. Nonetheless, the PAP occasionally engages in strategic state intervention, reflecting elements of welfarism. A distinctive feature of its economic approach is the support for the development and expansion of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), locally referred to as government-linked corporations (GLCs). These entities were initially established in response to the economic disruptions caused by the British military withdrawal from Singapore in 1971. GLCs played a central role in driving export-oriented industrialisation, fostering economic development and generating employment across key sectors of the economy. On social matters, the PAP endorses communitarian values and civic nationalism. A cornerstone of its social policy is the promotion of national cohesion through the integration of the country's major ethnic groups into a unified Singaporean identity.
History
Lee Kuan Yew, Toh Chin Chye and Goh Keng Swee were involved in the Malayan Forum, a London-based student activist group that was against colonial rule in Malaya in the 1940s and early 1950s. Upon returning to Singapore, the group met regularly to discuss approaches to attain independence in Malayan territories and started looking for like-minded individuals to start a political party. Journalist S. Rajaratnam was introduced to Lee by Goh. Lee was also introduced to several English-educated left-wing students and Chinese-educated union and student leaders while working on the Fajar sedition trial and the National Service riot case.
Formation
The PAP was officially registered as a political party on 21 November 1954. Members of the first Central Executive Committee (CEC) of the party include a group of trade unionists, lawyers and journalists such as Lee Kuan Yew, Abdul Samad Ismail, Toh Chin Chye, Devan Nair, S. Rajaratnam, Chan Chiaw Thor, Fong Swee Suan, Tann Wee Keng and Tann Wee Tiong. The political party was led by Lee Kuan Yew as its secretary-general, with Toh Chin Chye as its founding chairman. Other party officers include Tann Wee Tiong, Lee Gek Seng, Ong Eng Guan and Tann Wee Keng.
The PAP first contested the 1955 general election in which 25 of 32 seats in the legislature were up for election. In this election, the PAP's four candidates gained much support from the trade union members and student groups such as the University Socialist Club, who canvassed for them. The party won three seats, one by its leader Lee Kuan Yew for the Tanjong Pagar division and one by PAP co-founder Lim Chin Siong for the Bukit Timah division. Then 22 years old unionist Lim Chin Siong was and remained the youngest Assemblyman ever to be elected to office. The election was won by the Labour Front headed by David Marshall.
In April 1956, Lim and Lee represented the PAP at the London Constitutional Talks along with Chief Minister David Marshall which ended in failure as the British declined to grant Singapore internal self-government. On 7 June 1956, Marshall, disappointed with the constitutional talks, stepped down as Chief Minister as he had pledged to do so earlier if self-governance was not achieved. He was replaced by Lim Yew Hock, another Labour Front member. Lim pursued a largely anti-communist campaign and managed to convince the British to make a definite plan for self-government. The Constitution of Singapore was revised accordingly in 1958, replacing the Rendel Constitution with one that granted Singapore self-government and the ability for its own population to fully elect its Legislative Assembly.
PAP and left-wing members who were communists were criticised for inciting riots in the mid-1950s. Lim Chin Siong, Fong Swee Suan and Devan Nair as well as several unionists were detained by the police after the Chinese middle schools riots. Lim Chin Siong was placed under solitary confinement for close to a year, away from his other PAP colleagues, as they were placed in the Medium Security Prison (MSP) instead. The number of PAP members imprisoned rose in August 1957, when PAP members from the trade unions (viewed as "communist or pro-communist") won half the seats in the Central Executive Committee (CEC). The "moderate" CEC members, including Lee Kuan Yew, Toh Chin Chye and others, refused to take their appointments in the CEC. Yew Hock's government again made a sweeping round of arrests, imprisoning all the "communist" members, before the "moderates" re-assumed their office.
Following this, the PAP decided to re-assert ties with the labour faction of Singapore in the hope of securing the votes of working-class Chinese Singaporeans, many of whom were supporters of the jailed unionists. Lee Kuan Yew convinced the incarcerated union leaders to sign documents to state their support for the party and its policies, promising to release the jailed members of the PAP when the party came to power in the next elections. Ex-Barisan Sosialis member Tan Jing Quee claims that Lee was secretly in collusion with the British to stop Lim Chin Siong and the labour supporters from attaining power because of their huge popularity. Quee also states that Lim Yew Hock deliberately provoked the students into rioting and then had the labour leaders arrested. Greg Poulgrain of Griffiths University argued that "Lee Kuan Yew was secretly a party with Lim Yew Hock in urging the Colonial Secretary to impose the subversives ban in making it illegal for former political detainees to stand for election". Lee Kuan Yew eventually accused Lim Chin Siong and his supporters of being communists working for the Communist United Front, but evidence of Lim being a communist cadre was a matter of debate as many documents have yet to be declassified.
First years in government
The PAP eventually won the 1959 general election. The election was also the first one to produce a fully elected parliament and a cabinet wielding powers of full internal self-government. The party has remained in power ever since, winning a majority of seats in every successive general election. Lee, who was chosen to be the first Prime Minister after an internal election within the PAP, would eventually helm this post for the next 31 years, requested the British for the release of the left-wing members of the PAP, including the likes of Lim Chin Siong, Fong Swee Suan, Sandrasegaran Woodhull, James Puthucheary and Devan Nair.
In 1961, the Singapore Trades Union Congress (STUC), which had backed the PAP back in 1959, split into the pro-PAP National Trades Union Congress (NTUC) and the non-affiliated and more leftist Singapore Association of Trade Unions (SATU). The SATU collapsed in 1963, following the now PAP-led government's crackdown and detention of its leaders during Operation Coldstore and its subsequent official deregistration on 13 November 1963. The NTUC remains as the sole trade union centre in the country today and continues to have a close relationship with the PAP.
Great Split of 1961
In 1961, disagreements on the proposed merger plan to form Malaysia and long-standing internal party power struggle led to the split of the left-wing group from the PAP.
Although the "communist" faction had been frozen out of ever taking over the PAP, other problems had begun to arise internally. Ong Eng Guan, the former Mayor of the City Council after PAP's victory in the 1957 Singapore City Council election, presented a set of "16 Resolutions" to revisit some issues previously explored by Chin Siong's faction of the PAP: abolishing the PPSO, revising the Constitution, and changing the method of selecting cadre members.
Although Ong's 16 Resolutions originated from the left-wing faction led by Lim Chin Siong, that faction had only reluctantly asked the PAP leadership to clarify its position on them, as they still thought that the party with Lee Kuan Yew at the helm was a better alternative than Ong who was regarded as mercurial and a tyrant. However, Lee took the stance taken by the left-wing PAP members as a lack of confidence in his leadership. This issue caused a rift between the "moderate" PAP members (led by Lee) and the "left-wing" faction (led by Lim).
Ong was then expelled, and he resigned his Assembly seat to challenge the government to a by-election in Hong Lim in April 1961, where he won 73.3% of the vote. This was despite the fact that Lee Kuan Yew had made a secret alliance with Fong Chong Pik, the leader of the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM), to get the CPM cadres to support the PAP in the by-election.
Barisan Sosialis
The breakaway group of members formed the Barisan Sosialis with Lim Chin Siong as secretary-general. Aside from the Chinese union leaders, lawyers Thampoe Thamby Rajah and Tann Wee Tiong, several members from the University Socialist Club such as James Puthucheary (uncle of Janil Puthucheary) and Poh Soo Kai joined the party. 35 of 51 branches of the PAP and 19 of 23 branch secretaries defected to Barisan.
Merger years, 1963–1965
After gaining independence from Britain, Singapore joined the federation of Malaysia in 1963. Although the PAP was the ruling party in the state of Singapore, the PAP functioned as an opposition party at the federal level in the larger Malaysian political landscape. At that time and until the 2018 general election, the federal government in Kuala Lumpur was controlled by a coalition led by the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO). However, the prospect that the PAP might rule Malaysia agitated UMNO. The PAP's decision to contest federal parliamentary seats outside Singapore and the UMNO decision to contest seats within Singapore breached an unspoken agreement to respect each other's spheres of influence and aggravated PAP–UMNO relations. The clash of personalities between PAP leader Lee Kuan Yew and Malaysian Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman resulted in a crisis and led to Rahman forcing Singapore to leave Malaysia on 9 August 1965. Upon independence, the nascent People's Action Party of Malaya, which had been registered in Malaysia on 10 March 1964, had its registration cancelled on 9 September 1965, just a month after Singapore's exit. Those with the now non-existent party applied to register People's Action Party, Malaya which was again rejected by the Malaysian government, before settling with the Democratic Action Party (DAP).
Post-independence, 1965–present
The PAP has held an overwhelming majority of seats in the Parliament of Singapore since 1966, when the opposition Barisan Sosialis (Socialist Front) resigned from Parliament after winning 13 seats following the 1963 general election, which took place months after a number of their leaders had been arrested in Operation Coldstore based on accusations of being communists affiliated with the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).
It subsequently achieved a monopoly in an expanding parliament (winning every parliamentary seat) for the next four elections (1968, 1972, 1976 and 1980). Opposition parties returned to the legislature at a 1981 by-election. The 1984 general election was the first election in 21 years in which opposition parties won seats. From then until 2006, the PAP faced four opposition MPs at most. Opposition parties did not win more than four parliamentary seats from 1984 until 2011 when the Workers' Party (WP) won six seats and took away a Group Representation Constituency (GRC) for the first time for any opposition party, as well as until 2020 by which an opposition party had won more than one GRC, which was also achieved by the WP.
Even so, the PAP still holds a supermajority in the legislature, to the point that Singapore is effectively a dominant party system similar to Japan's Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) rule of the country. With its supermajority, the PAP has always had the ability to amend the Constitution of Singapore at will, including the introduction of multi-member constituencies under the GRC system (in 1988) or the Nominated Member of Parliament (NMPs) scheme (in 1990), which has helped strengthened the government's dominance and control of Parliament.
Leadership transitions
The longtime governing party of Singapore, spans both past and present, but notably occurred in the mid-1980s where the first generation of PAP leaders in the CEC and the Cabinet of Singapore ceded power to a second generation of leaders.
First to second generation
By 1984, the "old guard" (first generation of party leaders) had been governing Singapore for approximately a quarter of a century. Aging leadership was a key concern, and then-Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew sought to groom younger leaders. In a speech on 29 September 1984, Lee argued that though the first generation of leaders was still "alert and fully in charge", to hang on to power until they had become feeble would allow power to be wrested from them, with no say in who their successors were.
On 30 September, at the Ordinary Party Conference, power was transferred to the second generation of leaders, who were elected to the Central Executive Committee in place of all the old CEC members; of the 14-member CEC, Lee Kuan Yew remained the only "old guard" leader.
According to a report to the Library of Congress, the old guard were confident in their "rectitude" and discretion in using their extensive political powers for Singapore's common good, but were not as confident in the next generation in doing so. Various limits on executive power were considered, in order to minimise the chances of corruption. These included a popularly elected President of Singapore with substantial, nonceremonial powers. This particular reform was enacted with a constitutional amendment in 1991.
The old guard also sought to eschew the use of PAP as a central political institution, seeking to "depoliticise" and disperse power among society, and sought to include low-level community leaders in government. A policy of cross-fertilisation was enacted: exchange of leaders, "elites" and talent would take place between private and government sectors, civilian and military segments of society, and between the party and the National Trades Union Congress (NTUC).
Second to third generation
The next generation of leaders in the late 1980s was split between the factions of then Brigadier General Lee Hsien Loong and the older, more-experienced Goh Chok Tong. Lee Hsien Loong was supported by bureaucrats in the Ministry of Defence and army colleagues in the Singapore Armed Forces; Goh Chok Tong had more influence in the Singapore Civil Service, the Cabinet and government-linked companies.
Lee Kuan Yew himself remained Prime Minister and in the CEC until 1990, when he stepped down in favour of Goh Chok Tong as PM. Lee Hsien Loong became PM in 2004.
Third to fourth generation
On 23 November 2018, two fourth-generation leadership members (then–Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat and then–Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing) were elected as the First and Second Assistant Secretaries-General; these were, respectively, the second- and third-highest positions in the party. They replaced Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam. This represented a significant step of the leadership transition from the third generation to the fourth generation.
On 1 May 2019, Heng Swee Keat was appointed the new and sole Deputy Prime Minister, replacing Teo and Tharman. He was then widely seen as the 4th and next Prime Minister and Secretary-General of PAP succeeding incumbent Lee Hsien Loong. However, on 8 April 2021, Heng unexpectedly announced he would step down as the fourth-generation leader and step aside to pave the way for younger and healthier leaders to take over leadership, citing his health and age as reasons. Several Cabinet members were then seen as possible candidates to succeed Heng, including Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong, Minister for Health Ong Ye Kung, and Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing.
On 14 April 2022, Wong was selected as new leader of PAP's fourth-generation (4G) team, succeeding Heng. Wong received an "overwhelming majority" of support in the consultation process, surpassing that of other nominees. His candidacy was unanimously endorsed by the cabinet and subsequently by the PAP MPs at a party caucus on 14 April. On 4 December 2024, he was elected Secretary-General of People's Action Party, with an endorsement from Lee Hsien Loong.
Organisation
During its initial years, the party had adopted a traditional Leninist form of party organisation, together with a vanguard cadre from its labour-leaning faction. The PAP Executive later expelled the leftist faction in 1961, bringing the ideological basis of the party into the centre and later in the 1960s moving further to the right. Since independence, there have been no publicly known factions within the PAP. While MPs debate policies internally or voice some disagreement in Parliament, everyone must vote along the party line once a decision is made. However, political developments since the late 2010s have challenged the party's cohesion. These include the 2019 defection of former PAP MP and cadre Tan Cheng Bock to form the Progress Singapore Party (PSP), alongside Lee Hsien Loong's high-profile family rivalry over 38 Oxley Road that first erupted publicly in 2017, which involved his brother Lee Hsien Yang. Observers also believe that internal factions do exist but are strictly kept out of the public eye to avoid political instability.
In the beginning, there were about 500 so-called temporary cadres appointed, however the current number of cadres is unknown, with the register of cadres being kept confidential. In 1988, Wong Kan Seng revealed that there were more than 1,000 cadres. Cadre members have the right to attend party conferences and to vote for and elect and to be elected into the Central Executive Committee (CEC), the pinnacle of party leaders.
To become a party cadre, a party member must be first nominated by the MP in their branch. The candidate will then undergo three sessions of interview, each with four to five ministers or MPs and the appointment is then made by the CEC. About 100 candidates are nominated each year. Alternatively, party cadres are recruited based on recommendations by existing PAP cadres, prospective recruits for general election candidates are then internally shortlisted before.
Central Executive Committee and Secretary-General
Political power in the party is concentrated in the CEC, led by the secretary-general. The secretary-general of the PAP is the leader of the party. Due to PAP's electoral victories in every general election since 1959, the prime minister of Singapore has been by convention the secretary-general of the PAP since 1959. Key appointments in the CEC are usually Cabinet members.
From 1957 onward, the rules laid down that the outgoing CEC should recommend a list of candidates from which the cadre members can then vote for the next CEC. This has recently changed so that the CEC nominates eight members and the party caucus selects the remaining ten.
Historically, the position of Secretary-General was not considered for the office of Prime Minister, but rather the Central Executive Committee held an election to choose the prime minister. There was a contest between PAP Secretary-General Lee Kuan Yew and PAP Treasurer Ong Eng Guan, prior to 1959. Lee subsequently won the leadership and was inaugurated as the first prime minister of Singapore.
HQ Executive Committee
The next lower level committee is the HQ Executive Committee (HQ EXCO) which performs the party's administration and oversees 14 sub-committees.
The sub-committees are the following:
Branch Appointments and Relations
Constituency Relations
Information and Feedback
New Media
Malay Affairs
Membership Recruitment and Cadre Selection
PAP Awards