Singapore’s PM Announces Plan to Step Down Before 2025 Election – The Diplomat

ASEAN Beat | Politics | Southeast Asia

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned Sunday he deliberate to bow out and hand over energy to his deputy, Lawrence Wong, late subsequent yr, earlier than the 2025 normal election.

Lee, 71, initially supposed to retire earlier than turning 70, nevertheless it was shelved due to the COVID-19 pandemic. He has served as head of the long-ruling Individuals’s Motion Occasion, or PAP, and as prime minister since 2004. Final yr, he named Wong, who can also be finance minister, as his designated successor.

“I’ve full confidence in Lawrence and his crew and there’s no purpose to delay their political transition. Subsequently, I intend handy over to DPM (Deputy Prime Minister) Lawrence earlier than the subsequent normal election,” Lee mentioned at a celebration convention.

He mentioned passing the baton to Wong earlier than the nationwide polls would enable the 50-year-old politician to win his personal mandate and take the nation ahead.

“If all goes properly, I’ll hand over (to Wong) by PAP’s seventieth birthday subsequent yr” in November 2024, Lee mentioned with out giving a precise date.

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Pausing to carry again his tears, an emotional Lee mentioned he was grateful for the time he had served, and that he would do his utmost to assist Wong and his new crew.

“After (handing over), I will likely be on the new PM’s disposal. I’ll do wherever he thinks I could be helpful. I’ll do my finest to assist him combat and win the subsequent GE (normal election),” Lee added.

Wong, who got here to prominence in serving to to coordinate Singapore’s combat in opposition to COVID-19, would be the city-state’s fourth chief since independence in 1965.

He was picked by PAP because the doubtless successor to Lee after then Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, who was earlier tipped to succeed Lee, withdrew his nomination. Heng bowed out after the PAP, one of many world’s longest-serving events, suffered its worst election efficiency in 2020. Though the PAP retained its tremendous majority, it misplaced some seats and assist slipped.

Lee is the eldest son of Lee Kuan Yew, who turned Singapore’s first prime minister and constructed the resource-poor city-state into one of many world’s richest nations throughout 31 years in workplace. Nevertheless it has additionally been criticized for tight authorities management, media censorship and use of oppressive legal guidelines and civil lawsuits in opposition to dissidents.