Singapore’s ex-MP Leon Perera ‘helping PSP on an informal basis’ as opposition parties gear up for election

A former opposition member of parliament in Singapore who resigned from the Workers’ Party (WP) after he was caught lying about an extramarital affair has been volunteering with another opposition bloc, as parties prepare themselves for the next general election.

A Progress Singapore Party (PSP) spokesman told This Week in Asia that Leon Perera, 53, had not joined the party as a member, but political analysts say Perera could very well be on the ballot paper as a PSP candidate.

Perera left WP, the biggest opposition group in the country, in July last year after a video surfaced of him and youth wing chair Nicole Seah – both married with children – appearing to behave in an intimate manner. Party chief Pritam Singh said then that he would have sacked the pair for lying about the affair if they had not voluntarily stepped down.

Perera has recently returned to social media following a hiatus in the wake of the scandal. Over the weekend, he posted a picture of himself at PSP’s National Day dinner on his Instagram story. On his Facebook page, he later posted pictures of himself and PSP volunteers at a talk on domestic policies where he was a panellist, thanking them for attending.

“Mr Leon Perera is helping PSP on an informal basis, but he has not joined the party as a member. He attended the dinner as a PSP member’s guest,” said the PSP spokesman on Monday.

Perera confirmed he attended the dinner as the guest of a PSP member but added that he had no further comments to make at this time.

WP is the ruling People’s Action Party’s (PAP) most significant political rival, currently holding eight of the 93 elected legislative seats compared to the PAP’s 83 seats. The party had won a total of 10 seats in Singapore’s election during the