The 2013 Punggol East by-election in Singapore was held on 26 January 2013 to fill a vacant seat after the incumbent MP, Michael Palmer resigned due to an extramarital affair.

[1] On 26 January 2013, Lee Li Lian from the Workers' Party was elected as the Member of Parliament for Punggol East SMC winning 54.50% of the vote.

A local tabloid, The New Paper, reported that they received a tip-off on 8 December 2012, in the form of screengrabs of phone messages that the Speaker of Parliament, Michael Palmer was having an extramarital affair.

On 12 December 2012, the PAP called a press conference where Palmer announced that he resigned to "take full responsibility for a grave mistake" for having an improper relationship with a PA staff working in the Pasir Ris West constituency office, Laura Ong.

[7] At a news conference outside Rivervale Plaza later on the evening, the Reform Party (RP) announce that chief Kenneth Jeyaretnam will be the fourth candidate.

He then announced that the government will now focus on current national issues in Parliament including the Population White Paper and the annual Budget statement, and mentioned that the PAP are prepared for a long term with time to deliver results, and would continue to work to improve the lives of Singaporeans, and present the report card for voters to judge in the next general election.

[18][19][20] In the 2015 elections, PAP's Koh would be MP-elect for the Yio Chu Kang division under Ang Mo Kio GRC (and later Tampines GRC in 2020), but Lee was unable to retain the seat for a second term and returning Punggol East to the PAP-fold which was won by Joo Chiat SMC candidate Charles Chong in a narrow winning margin.