Democratic Progressive Party

The Democratic Progressive Party (abbrev: DPP; Chinese: 民主进步党) is a political party in Singapore.

The history of the party dates back to 16 March 1973, when it was first set up by a splinter group from the Workers' Party and named the United Front. It was renamed the Singapore United Front on 5 March 1982. In early 1988, the members of the party re-merged with Workers' Party and the Singapore United Front became defunct (though the party remained an officially registered organisation).

After the 1988 general elections, some former members of the Workers' Party revived the Singapore United Front, renaming it the Democratic Progressive Party.

The father and son pair of Tan Lead Shake and Tan Soo Phuan stood as candidates for the party in the 1997 general election and 2001 general election, though they did not achieve much electoral success. Tan Soo Phuan lost his election deposit of S$6,000 at the 1997 general election after he failed the achieve the necessary threshold of 12.5% of the votes which was required to retain his deposit in Chua Chu Kang SMC. In the 2001 general election, Tan Lead Shake lost the election deposit of S$13,000 in Ayer Rajah SMC for the same reason.

Tan Lead Shake stood as a candidate for the Singapore Democratic Alliance at the 2006 general election in Tampines GRC and was expelled from the DPP for breaching a party order not to contest the election.

No-one from the DPP contested the 2011 general election.

In January 2013, a group of former members of the Singapore People's Party joined the DPP, including Benjamin Pwee who became the party's Acting Secretary-General. Pwee was confirmed as the party's Secretary-General at an Ordinary Party Congress meeting on 31 March 2013.

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