SINGAPORE — About 50,000 public officers are expected to be appointed and trained to manage nomination, polling and counting activities ahead of the next General Election.

The Elections Department (ELD) said this on Wednesday (March 6), in response to CNA's queries on whether public servants have been called up to begin training as election officials.

Singapore's next General Election must be called by November 2025. 

Earlier this week, CNA learnt that at least six public servants, including teachers, from various ministries and statutory boards have received notice of their role as election officials since last week. 

A few public servants from different agencies, who spoke on condition of anonymity, also said some of their colleagues had been notified via email. 

One public servant was notified that they had been appointed as a presiding officer, in an email seen by CNA. They were instructed to log in to an election officials' website using their Singpass to complete the onboarding process, and find out more about their election appointment and election process. 

A presiding officer is an election official who conducts and assists with polling proceedings at the polling station. It is one among several roles — including assistant returning officers and counting assistants — typically assigned to election officials. 

These officials oversee the voting process at polling stations, usually located within schools, community centres or void decks.

CNA understands that other public servants received similar appointment emails.  

ELD said it appoints and trains public officers “on an ongoing basis” to perform election duties to prepare the public service to conduct elections in Singapore — a stance that the department has maintained in the past.

It did not respond to questions about the average lead time between public servants being notified and an election being called. 

In 2022, TODAY reported that some public servants had been sent notices of appointment as election officials from as early as mid-March that year, ahead of the September 2023 expiration date for former President Halimah Yacob’s term of office. The 2023 Presidential Election was held on Sept 1.

The same report noted that public servants were called up for training about 24 months before the GE2020 polls were held. The lead time was about 12 months for GE2015, about 18 months for GE2011 and about 31 months for GE2006. 

Before GE2006, the appointment and training of officials began only after the President issued a Writ of Election, the legal document that sets the election process in motion. CNA