Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, in office since 2004, announces his resignation

On April 15, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that he will resign on May 15 after twenty years at the helm of the city state. He will be replaced by current deputy prime minister Lawrence Wong.

Wong, 51, an economist who trained in the United States, will become Singapore’s second non-Lee family head of government.

“I urge all Singaporeans to support Lawrence and his team and work together with them to build a better future,” Lee said in a video message.

According to some commentators, Lee will be remembered for having modernized the country but also for having carried out the repression of dissent and independent media.

Wong, who is also finance minister, was chosen in 2022 as Lee’s successor by a new generation of MPs from the People’s Action Party (PAP), the group that has governed Singapore continuously since independence in 1965.

“I accept this responsibility with humility and a deep sense of duty,” Wong said.

Wong is credited with having effectively managed the covid-19 pandemic as coordinator of a special task force established by the government.

The city state was one of the first Asian economies to recover from the pandemic.

In office since 2004, Lee Hsien Loong is the son of Lee Kuan Yew, who became Singapore’s first head of government when the former British colony gained independence after a brief union with Malaysia.

Legislative elections are expected by November 2025, but could be brought forward to this year.

In the last elections, which were held in 2020, the opposition achieved its best result since independence, but the PAP still won 83 out of 93 seats.

Recently the PAP’s image has been tarnished by some scandals: a minister was indicted for corruption and two deputies were forced to resign.