in june 2015, nearly two years after she resigned, poa was appointed the acting secretary-general of the nsp following the resignation of tan lam siong. the party decided against calling a party congress to elect a new secretary-general "in view of the need to focus on preparations for the next general election". (tan lam siong served in the post for only five months. his predecessor, jeannette chong-aruldoss, had replaced poa in october 2013 after poa stepped down.) however, in august 2015, pao announced that she was stepping down as acting secretary-general and leaving the party because she disagreed with the decision of the party's central executive committee to field a candidate in the single-member constituency of macpherson in the 2015 general election even though the workers' party was also planning to contest the pap in the constituency. a week later, poa was seen helping out with singapore democratic party team in their walkabout at bukit timah market and food centre on 30 august.