Founding and change in leadership RP was founded by lawyer and veteran politician J.B. Jeyaretnam in 2008. Formerly from WP, J.B. Jeyaretnam (then a
Non-Constituency Member of Parliament) was sued by
Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew,
Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Tamil PAP MPs on
defamation charges, and had to pay about S$1.5 million to his opponents. In 2001, he was declared bankrupt after incurring a debt of more than S$600,000 (which also barred the right to stand for elections, or represent as member of parliament). K. Jeyaretnam, who at the time, was residing with his family in the United Kingdom, and had never participated in politics, took over as secretary-general in April 2009.
First election and by-election On 8 May 2010, the party announced six candidates to contest the
2011 general election, which included K. Jeyaretnam. However, several members who joined the party subsequently resigned to join other parties, including
Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss,
Tony Tan Lay Thiam and wife
Hazel Poa, and
Nicole Seah. Earlier on, the party was invited by
Chiam See Tong to join the
Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) with RP setting out 11 conditions to join the SDA. However, the rest of the leadership of SDA voted not to make a decision on the list of conditions, and the discussion was leaked to the press. As a result, K. Jeyaretnam decided against RP joining the SDA. K. Jeyaretnam forfeited his S$14,500 election deposit as he garnered only 1.2% of the valid votes cast (per electoral rules, the threshold of retaining the deposit is 12.5%, or one-eighth, of the valid votes cast for the constituency).
Further electoral defeats and leadership changes During the
2015 general election, RP fielded 11 candidates to contest three constituencies, Ang Mo Kio and West Coast GRCs, as well as
Radin Mas SMC, a ward that used to be part of J.B. Jeyaretnam's former
Anson constituency. The election also marked the debut of activists
Roy Ngerng and
M Ravi. On 7 September, RP released its manifesto. On 11 September, following the general election, RP found their electoral performance dwindled, compared to the last election, as they garnered only 20.60% of vote share in the three constituencies. This was mostly attributed to the large swing from the opposition to the ruling party, seen in the 2015 general election. In 2018, RP with six political parties (
People's Power Party (PPP),
Singaporeans First (SF),
Singapore Democratic Party (SDP),
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP),
National Solidarity Party (NSP), and
Peoples Voice Party (PV), held a meeting, that was led by former PAP MP
Tan Cheng Bock, to discuss the formation of a coalition for the next election. During the
2020 general election, RP fielded six candidates in two constituencies, Ang Mo Kio GRC and Radin Mas SMC. Breaking with tradition, the party chose not to contest West Coast GRC, to avoid a three-corner fight with
Progress Singapore Party, a new party led by Tan Cheng Bock. Initially intending to contest
Yio Chu Kang SMC, RP alleged that PSP had failed to abide by an agreement that RP would cede West Coast GRC to PSP while PSP would refrain from contesting Yio Chu Kang SMC. In response, the PSP rebutted that no such agreement existed. During the campaigning period, K. Jeyaretnam did not participate in the campaigning activities nor turn up for televised broadcasts as he was serving a mandatory 14-day
Stay Home Notice after a visit to the United Kingdom. On 10 July, the party won neither constituency, with returning vote shares of 28.09% and 25.97% respectively. RP improved their party's vote share by 27.84% from the last election. On 5 August, K. Jeyaretnam removed chairman Andy Zhu and treasurer Noraini Yunus from the CEC, and replaced them with CEC member
Charles Yeo and deputy treasurer Mahaboob Baatsha, respectively. Several members subsequently left the party and followed Zhu and Noraini to form the
Singapore United Party.
PAR membership and subsequent withdrawal On 15 January 2022, Yeo temporarily relinquished his chairmanship of the party due to his arrest over alleged offences of criminal breach of trust and forgery in the course of his work. In June 2023, the RP, along with DPP, PV and PPP, formed the
People's Alliance for Reform (PAR). K. Jeyaretnam did not participate in the 2025 general election. Instead, RP had one candidate, Mahaboob Baatsha, who contested
Queenstown SMC. Baatsha received 18.88% of the vote against incumbent PAP MP
Eric Chua who received 81.12% of the vote. In July 2025, RP would withdraw from the PAR. ==Objectives==