Our boring Sunday afternoon was made exciting by a surprisingly-dramatic Workers' Party Central Executive Council election, where Aljunied MP Chen Show Mao challenged his fellow MP and party leader Low Thia Khiang to the party's top spot.

Low retained his hold on the leadership post, though, with a 61-45 vote margin — this after he added a bumper crop of 28 new young cadre ahead of Sunday.

Meanwhile, we bring you the rundown of the new group of 14 people leading our nation's key opposition party:

The six MPs:

1. Low Thia Khiang, 59

The party's secretary-general and elected Aljunied GRC MP.

2. Sylvia Lim, 51

The party's chairman and elected Aljunied GRC MP. Apart from being vice-chairman of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, Lim also sits on the party's media team, and was re-elected to her chairman post unopposed.

3. Pritam Singh, 39

The party's existing organising secretary and elected Aljunied GRC MP. Chairman of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council. We understand from party insiders that he also received the highest number of votes to enter the CEC.

4. Chen Show Mao, 55

The party's existing treasurer and elected Aljunied GRC MP. Contested Low's secretary-general post and obtained a respectable 45 votes in his favour. He also received the second-highest number of votes for election into the CEC.

5. Muhamad Faisal bin Abdul Manap, 40

Aljunied GRC MP. He reportedly scored among the highest winning margin in the 2015 General Election.

6. Png Eng Huat, 53

Elected MP for Hougang SMC. Also serves as vice-chairman of the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council.

The three NCMPs:

7. Leon Perera, 44

A non-constituency MP for East Coast GRC. Was last year co-opted into the CEC as a member of the party's media team. He received the third-highest number of votes in the CEC election.

8. Daniel Goh, 42

Head of the party's media team and president of the party's Youth wing, also current NCMP for East Coast GRC.

9. Dennis Tan, 45

NCMP for Fengshan SMC.

There were also two former MPs/NCMPs:

10. Lee Li Lian, 37

Former Punggol East SMC MP and existing organising secretary. She gave up her non-constituency MP seat after losing by the smallest margin among the opposition in GE2015.

11. Gerald Giam, 38

Former head of the party's media team and also former NCMP for East Coast GRC.

One former candidate at GE2015:

12. Kenneth Foo, 38

Co-opted into the CEC last year as deputy organising secretary. He also helmed the WP team contesting Nee Soon GRC in GE2015.

And two new faces:

13. Firuz Khan, 48

This one's a surprise for us — he was a candidate on the Marine Parade GRC team in GE2015. Here's his profile:

14. Tan Kong Soon, 38

This is another new face on the CEC -- we learned he is party chief Low's legislative assistant. He is also the vice president of the WP's Youth Wing.

And these are the people who are now out of the CEC:

1. Mohammed Rahizan bin Yacob, 60

Up till Sunday, he held the position of party vice chairman.

2. L. Somasundaram, 53

Up till Sunday, he was deputy treasurer.

3. Mohamed Fairoz bin Shariff, 36

He was the CEC's webmaster and a member of the party's media team. He was one of the four-man East Coast GRC team during last year's General Election, and was among the three men co-opted into the CEC last year, post-GE2015. This makes his CEC tenure the shortest out of everyone in the '14- '16 batch.

4. Yee Jenn Jong, 51

He led the Marine Parade GRC team during last year's GE2015, and is also a former NCMP for Joo Chiat SMC. According to The Straits Times, he did not stand for this year's CEC election.

5. John Yam, 54

He was with the party's CEC, got ousted, and then was voted back in in 2014.

Replacing them in the CEC are Firuz (#9) and Tan (#14).

With the majority of the ousted members being above the age of 50, the average age of the members in WP's new committee has fallen slightly, from 47 to 45.

Unfortunately, the party failed to make inroads in female representation, with their new CEC still containing the same two women -- Sylvia Lim and Lee Li Lian.

Low's addition of the 28 new cadre failed to ensure a more stable election, though -- a total of 21 people vied for the remaining 12 positions, the first two being taken by Lim and Low.

Here's the official party announcement, also posted to their Facebook page:

Related articles:

Chen Show Mao challenges Low Thia Khiang for Sec-Gen post at Workers’ Party CEC election

Workers’ Party leadership election: Predicting Low Thia Khiang’s dream team this Sunday

3 things about the Workers’ Party reshuffle you’ll be okay not knowing about until 2020

Workers’ Party Youth Wing added four new members to its Executive Committee

Top photo by Lim Weixiang.

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