12 Ministers elected into PAP's Central Executive Committee

Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, Khaw Boon Wan, Teo Chee Hean and Tharman Shanmugaratnam are among 12 Cabinet Ministers who've been elected into its Central Executive Committee (CEC).

Dr Yaacob Ibrahim, Lim Swee Say,  K Shanmugam, Chan Chun Sing, Grace Fu, Gan Kim Yong, Heng Swee Keat and Tan Chuan-Jin are also almong the elected 12 announced by party chairman Khaw at the PAP60 Party Conference held at the Singapore Expo on Sunday morning.

The 12 Cabinet members received the highest number of votes by party cadres.

Held once every two years, the CEC is PAP’s highest policy-making body, and its choice of members set the tone for the Party’s approach to governance for the next four years. It's also widely regarded by political watchers to be an indication of Singapore’s next generation of leadership.

Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob and Dr Ng Eng Hen, who received the 13th and 14th highest number of votes, were co-opted into the 2014 CEC.

Defence Minister Ng had been part of the former 12-member CEC elected in 2012 but his place in the main committee has been taken up by Minister Tan.

Noticeably absent is Environment and Water Resources Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, who was co-opted into the 2012 CEC committee but this time around, is not part of the new CEC nor its co-opted members.

Transport Minister Lui Tuck Yew, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth Lawrence Wong, Minister of Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, S Iswaran are the other Cabinet appointees not part of the new CEC. 

About 6,000 party cadres attended the 33rd PAP Party conference on Sunday morning.