Former People's Action Party MP and presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock looks set to have his new opposition political party officially up and running.

"In principle" approval

His application to form a new political party called "Progress Singapore Party" has been approved "in principle" by the Registry of Societies (ROS).

Announcement on Facebook

Tan shared about the progress on Saturday, March 16, in a Facebook post.

Amendments to constitution before approval

However, the Progress Singapore Party can only be registered provided it makes some amendments to its constitution, he said.

The 78-year-old wrote: "We have proposed some minor changes to the ROS's amendments and are now waiting for their final reply."

It has so far appeared smooth-sailing for the veteran politician as he also said: "The Registry of Societies has been very helpful so far, and I look forward to their favorable response to our application."

Background

The former Ayer Rajah MP had announced his intent to form a new political party on Jan. 18, 2019.

The group he is leading consists of "12 concerned Singaporeans, including some ex-PAP cadres".

He said then that he decided on starting a new party after considering joining an existing opposition party, taking over an existing opposition party and running independently.

Tan was a PAP MP for 26 years from 1980 to 2006.

Tan narrowly lost to Tony Tan in the 2011 presidential election, which saw four candidates going head-to-head.

He could not run again in the 2017 presidential election due to amendments to the Constitution that only allowed Malays to enter the race.

Tan's legal challenge to the government’s decision to reserve that presidential election for Malay candidates was dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

In recent months, Tan has been spotted having breakfast with Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s younger brother Lee Hsien Yang.

He also hung out with opposition politicians over Chinese New Year.

In July 2018, Tan attended a media conference where seven opposition parties, excluding the Workers’ Party and Singapore People’s Party, came together to discuss the possibility of form an opposition coalition with him at the helm.