Pritam Singh (born 2 August 1976) is a Singaporean politician, author and former lawyer who was the leader of the opposition from 2020 to 2026. He has been the secretary-general of the Workers' Party (WP) since 2018 and the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Eunos division of Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since 2011. Singh was the first de jure leader of the opposition in post-independence Singapore.
Singh won the Straits Steamship Prize in 1999 for being the top undergraduate student in history and political science and graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. He went on to pursue postgraduate studies at King's College London on a Chevening Scholarship, earning a Master of Arts degree in war studies in 2004. Singh subsequently returned to Singapore and enrolled in the Juris Doctor programme at the Singapore Management University, completing his legal studies and being called to the bar in 2011. In 2013, he joined the litigation and dispute resolution department of Donaldson & Burkinshaw, Singapore’s oldest law firm.
Singh joined the WP in 2010. He made his political debut, and won, in Aljunied GRC at the 2011 general election, defeating the governing People's Action Party (PAP) in the first GRC victory by the opposition. He succeeded Low Thia Khiang as secretary-general of the WP on 8 April 2018 as part of a leadership transition. Between then and 2020, Singh functioned as the de facto leader of the opposition. Following the party’s performance in the 2020 general election, where it won the newly created Sengkang GRC while retaining Hougang Single Member Constituency (SMC) and Aljunied GRC, Singh was formally appointed by prime minister Lee Hsien Loong as the first de jure leader of the opposition and thus granted additional parliamentary responsibilities and resources. In January 2026, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong removed Singh as Leader of the Opposition following a parliamentary motion after his two counts of perjury of giving false testimony to a parliamentary committee. Singh remained secretary-general of the Workers' Party and was retained by party cadres in a supermajority vote in June 2026.
Singh was born on 2 August 1976 in Singapore. He is the younger of two children. His father served as a district judge and had earlier held a commission as a military officer. Singh attended Woodsville Primary School, Belvedere Primary School and Saint Thomas Secondary School (all now-defunct), where he studied in the Normal (Academic) stream. He subsequently enrolled at Jurong Junior College (current Jurong Pioneer Junior College) before being awarded the Singapore Armed Forces's Local Study Award to pursue undergraduate studies. He graduated from the National University of Singapore in 2000 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history.
Following his undergraduate education, Singh pursued postgraduate studies at King's College London, where he obtained a Master of Arts degree in war studies in 2004 under the Chevening Scholarship. He later completed a diploma in Islamic studies from the International Islamic University Malaysia in 2005. The Straits Times reported that he pursued the diploma to better understand and discuss religious issues. In 2007, Singh co-founded Opinion Asia, an online syndicate that focused on analysis and commentary about Asian affairs and communities. He returned to Singapore to read law at the Singapore Management University, where he graduated with a Juris Doctor degree in 2011.
Singh enlisted in the Singapore Armed Forces in 1994 and served as a commissioned officer between 1996 and 2002. During his service, he was a combat engineer. At present, he is a reservist commander with the rank of Major.
In 2013, Singh joined the litigation and dispute resolution practice at Donaldson & Burkinshaw, Singapore's oldest law firm.
In March 2026, the Law Society of Singapore initiated disciplinary proceedings against Singh after he was convicted of lying to Parliament. On 31 July of the same year, a notice from the High Court stated that the Society was seeking to disbar him over the conviction. On 13 August, Singh was stuck off rolls over the conviction by the Court of Three Judges.
Singh joined the WP around 2010 while completing a juris doctor degree at the Singapore Management University, citing its "level-headedness and leadership" as his primary motivator.
During the 2011 general election, Singh was part of the five-member WP team for Aljunied GRC, led by then secretary-general Low Thia Khiang, who earlier left his safe seat of Hougang SMC. The Aljunied GRC team at the time was led by Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo, and then-Eunos division MP Zainul Abidin, a Senior Minister of State. The WP team won 54.72% of the vote, marking the first opposition victory in GRCs since their creation in 1988. The party then held on to the constituency with a narrow margin of 2% in the subsequent election, with an election recount revealing that his division was one of three divisions that won the WP vote.
Leadership of the Workers' Party
In 2016, Singh was appointed as the assistant secretary general on the party's executive council. Singh was also previously the chairman of the Aljunied–Hougang Town Council (AHTC) from 2016 to 2020.
In 2017, after Low Thia Khiang announced that he was contemplating retirement as well as wanting to rejuvenate the party for "younger blood"; Singh was widely regarded to be the next chief of the Workers' Party before the next election. On 8 April 2018, Singh was succeeded by Low as the new WP's secretary-general.
The 2020 general election was the first election under Singh's leadership, and also the first time his Aljunied GRC team does not include his predecessor Low, as he was under rehabilitation at the time, having being injured and hospitalized months prior.
Singh and his team was re-elected with 59.95% of the votes. In addition of retaining their safe seat Hougang, WP also won the brand-new Sengkang GRC; this marked the first time that any opposition party claimed multiple GRCs at once, and also the first time an opposition won the overall popular contested vote, scoring 50.49%.
Committee of Privileges (COP) conviction
Following Raeesah Khan's admission in Parliament on 1 November 2021 that she had lied about a sexual assault case, the Committee of Privileges (COP) initiated an inquiry into the conduct of several WP leaders. On 10 February 2022, the COP recommended that Singh and Faisal Manap be referred to the Public Prosecutor to assess whether criminal proceedings were warranted for potentially providing false statements to the committee. Parliament voted on 15 February 2022 to endorse this recommendation. Two years later, on 19 March 2024, Singh was charged with two counts of giving false evidence to a parliamentary committee under Section 31(q) of the Parliament (Privileges, Immunities and Powers) Act 1962. He pleaded not guilty and opted to claim trial. Despite being charged, Singh retained his seat in Parliament, as the legal proceedings did not meet the constitutional thresholds for disqualification.
The trial at the District Court began on 14 October 2024. On 17 February 2025, Singh was found guilty on both charges and fined $7,000 for each count. After his conviction, he filed an appeal to the High Court. The conviction does not disqualify him from contesting elections or serving as an MP, as each fine falls below the disqualification threshold of $10,000 on a single charge stipulated under Article 45 of the Constitution (which was last revised on May 2022, where the threshold amount was previously set at $2,000). His appeal was heard by the High Court on 4 November 2025. The court dismissed his appeal on 4 December 2025. Later that month, 25 WP cadres requested a special conference to review Singh's leadership. In March 2026, the Law Society of Singapore initiated disciplinary proceedings against Singh in relation to the conviction. In April 2026, the Workers' Party Central Executive Committee issued Singh a formal letter of reprimand following an internal disciplinary process. At the special conference on 28 June 2026, party cadres voted to retain him as secretary-general with about 80% support.