Pritam Singh moved to new seat in parliament following removal as Leader of the Opposition

SINGAPORE: Former Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh has been moved to a new seat in parliament - no longer directly opposite Prime Minister Lawrence Wong - following his removal as the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr Singh was moved two seats down in the first row, according to a seating plan uploaded on the Singapore parliament website on Tuesday (Feb 3), with Deputy Speaker of Parliament Christopher de Souza taking his previous seat.

Mr Singh will be seated between Members of Parliament Xie Yao Quan and Mariam Jaafar. Mr Xie, who is also Deputy Speaker of Parliament, will be to his right, while Ms Jaafar is to his left.

The change comes after Mr Wong removed the Workers' Party (WP) chief from his role as Leader of the Opposition on Jan 15, a day after parliament voted that Mr Singh was unsuitable to continue in the role after his conviction for lying to a parliamentary committee.

Mr Wong had invited the WP to nominate another MP to fill the role, but the party rejected the offer, saying that the position should be held by the leader of the largest opposition party in parliament.

The Prime Minister's Office later said that the government accepted the decision and that the position would remain vacant "until such time that the WP is ready to nominate someone to take on this responsibility".

When asked about the seat change, the Singapore Parliament directed CNA to Speaker Seah Kian Peng's reading of a letter from the Prime Minister at the start of Tuesday's parliament sitting.

In the letter, Mr Wong informed the House that Mr Singh is no longer Leader of the Opposition.

CNA has also asked Mr Singh for comment on the seat change.