The political party that Singapore’s former presidential candidate Dr Tan Cheng Bock set up has been approved “in-principle” by the Registry of Societies, said Dr Tan in a Facebook post on Saturday evening.
The 78-year-old announced in January that he filed an application to the Registry of Societies to start a new political party, the Progress Singapore Party.
The announcement comes amid calls by the government that Singapore may push its general elections date forward, despite the next elections being due for January 2021.
Dr Tan Cheng Bock contested in the country’s 2011 presidential election, narrowly losing out to Dr Tony Tan by 0.35 percent of the votes.
In his Facebook post, Dr Tan Cheng Bock said that his party’s application to the Registry of Societies is “subject to us accepting some amendments made by the Registry of Societies to our constitution”.
Dr Tan did not reveal what those amendments are in his Facebook statement, but said that his party has proposed some “minor changes” to the amendments made by the registry and are waiting for their final reply.
“The Registry of Societies has been very helpful so far, and I look forward to their favorable response to our application,” he said.
He said this amid a visit that he made to Kampung Admiralty, an award-winning public-housing development aimed to house retirees within a complex that had medical, food and hangout facilities.
Dr Tan’s candidacy for the upcoming general elections has been supported by someone with ties to the ruling prime minister: PM Lee Hsien Loong’s brother, Lee Hsien Yang.
Mr Lee publicly voiced out his support for Dr Tan via Facebook last January, and both men have been seen meeting each other in hawker centers during the weekends.
Other political parties have thrown their hat in the ring, with the opposition Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) publicly announcing that they would like to work with Dr Tan, a former member of the ruling People’s Action Party.
“We look forward to the formation of his new party and to work with him to strengthen the opposition and bring our nation one step closer to democracy,” said the party via Facebook in January.
The SDP kicked off campaigning for the upcoming general elections last month, with a plan to release alternative policies throughout the year to allow Singaporeans to comment and critique on them.
“(The current government) is a government that has lost its way, utterly bereft of moral values,” said the party in a press release.
