WP’s Daniel Goh will not contest next GE for health reasons

SINGAPORE — Workers’ Party (WP) Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) Daniel Goh has stepped down from his appointments in the party’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) to focus on recovering from a “health condition” and will not contest the next General Election (GE).

In a statement on Tuesday (April 21), the opposition party said that Associate Professor Goh, 47, had told its leadership some months ago that his health was failing.

“Since then, he has been under medication for a health condition,” WP said, without elaborating. 

It added: “At his request, Associate Professor Goh will not participate in the upcoming General Election.” 

The next GE must be held by April 14 next year. 

When contacted by TODAY, Assoc Prof Goh declined to elaborate on the reasons for stepping down. “We should focus on the national situation,” he said, referring to Singapore’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak.  

WP said Assoc Prof Goh will remain an ordinary member of its CEC, the party’s top decision-making body, even though he has stepped down from his appointments. He was WP’s organising secretary and the chair of its media team. 

He has also left his post as a town councillor at the Aljunied-Hougang Town Council, which WP runs. 

“All his said responsibilities have been assigned to other individuals,” WP said. 

Assoc Prof Goh will, however, continue to fulfil his duties as an NCMP in this term of Parliament. He was elected to the post in 2016. 

A sociologist at the National University of Singapore, he started volunteering with WP in the 2011 GE and joined as a member in 2013. 

In the 2015 polls, he was among the candidates in the WP team who contested but lost in the East Coast Group Representation Constituency.

That same year, WP nominated him to take up the NCMP post after its member Lee Li Lian, who lost the Punggol East ward to Mr Charles Chong from the People’s Action Party, declined to take up the seat.

NCMPs are the losing opposition candidates who fared best in an election.