04/15/2024

Singapore's Prime Minister to Step Down

His successor will take office in May

Singapore will soon get its fourth prime minister—and only the second outside of its founding family that has led the country for a combined more than 50 years since the city-state gained its independence in the 1960s. 

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, 72, who has held the position since 2004, will relinquish his office on May 15, and 51-year-old Lawrence Wong—currently deputy prime minister and finance minister—will be sworn in as the country's next premier, according to a statement Monday by the prime minister's office. (Singapore elected a new president last year, but the role is mostly ceremonial.)

Wong, who has long been viewed as Lee’s successor, “has the unanimous support of the PAP MPs,” the statement said, referring to the country’s ruling People’s Action Party, which has continuously dominated politics since its founding under Lee’s late father Lee Kuan Yew, who was the country's first prime minister for 31 years before stepping down in 1990, though he remained in politics until 2011.

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