Leon Perera, the former Member of Parliament (MP), recently raised eyebrows when he shared a photo of himself on Instagram.

The ex-Workers' Party (WP) man attended a National Day dinner on the weekend of Aug. 3, organised by the Progress Singapore Party (PSP).

New PSP recruit?

Could Perera's dinner date hint at things to come?

Perera was picked to serve as a Non-Constituency MP after the WP team put in a strong performance in East Coast GRC for the 2015 general election.

He was then fielded in Aljunied GRC for the 2020 GRC, defeating the PAP team and winning a seat in Parliament.

Perera's experience both in elections and in parliament could be useful to another opposition party like the PSP.

But it appears that at least for now, Perera will not don the red-and-white of the PSP.

A PSP spokesperson told Mothership, "Mr Leon Perera is helping PSP on an informal basis, but he has not joined the Party as a member."

Speaking to Mothership, Perera said he attended the dinner as a guest of PSP member, but had "no further comments" to make at this time.

 Departure from WP

Perera resigned from both his parliamentary and party positions with WP due to untruthfulness over the extramarital affair with then-fellow WP member Nicole Seah.

WP chief Pritam Singh said Perera's conduct fell short of the standards expected of him as a WP MP, as he had not been truthful with the party and its leadership.

He added that had Perera not resigned, he would have recommended that the party's CEC expel him from the party.

The next general election must be held by November 2025.

If Perera were to join the PSP, he would be following in the footsteps of other Singaporean politicians who have switched parties.

Former Singapore People's Party chief Chiam See Tong once headed the Singapore Democratic Party, while Joshua B Jeyaretnam, the first WP MP elected in Singapore, left the party and set up the Reform Party in 2008.

Top image from HWZ Forum.