Bills introduced to bar children under 16, foreign entities from taking part in election activities, tighten advertising standards during polls

SINGAPORE — Children under the age of 16 and foreign entities will be explicitly barred from taking part in election activities if a Bill introduced in Parliament on Monday (Feb 6) is passed.  

The Elections Department (ELD) said in a press release on Monday that as part of ongoing efforts to improve electoral processes, the Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill and Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill will also enhance transparency and traceability in carrying out election advertising.

This would be done by subjecting the boosting and sharing of posts to the same requirements as publishing fresh content. 

The Bills, if passed, will also improve voting accessibility for overseas Singaporeans and elderly voters residing in nursing homes.

WHY IT MATTERS

If passed, the amendments will be put in place from the next election, which is likely to be the Presidential Election that must be called by Sept 13 when President Halimah Yacob’s six-year term expires.

Improvements in voter accessibility are being made after consultations with different stakeholders including registered political parties, nursing home operators and Singaporeans based overseas.

It was previously reported that there were about 200,000 Singaporeans based overseas with some 4,794 Singaporeans overseas voting in 2020, an increase from 3,500 in 2011. 

Due to Singapore's rapidly ageing population, 21 per cent of citizens who voted at General Election in 2020 were aged above 65, up from 14 per cent in 2011.

STRENGTHENING ELECTION PROCESS

As part of efforts to strengthen the election processes, ELD said that the Bills proposed provide better clarity on who will be banned from taking part in election activities through the following ways: 

• Adopting a more consistent age-based restriction prohibiting individuals aged below 16 to participate
• Explicitly prohibiting foreign entities from taking part

Currently, the Parliamentary Elections Act and Presidential Elections Act prohibit primary school and secondary school students from taking part in election activities, as well as foreign individuals but not foreign entities. 

Other steps proposed in the Bills on Monday to strengthen election processes included:

• Empowering the prime minister to make regulations for contingency arrangements to be carried out due to disruptive events including floods
• Allowing polling stations to be set up in the adjacent electoral division instead of strictly within the electoral division boundary as provided by the current laws

MORE TRANSPARENT ADVERTISING

The current laws require that all election advertising include relevant particulars such as the name of the publisher, the persons who directed the election advertising and the persons who paid for the advertising.

The changes tabled in Parliament on Monday included:

• Letting the same requirements be extended to the amplification of online election advertising — referring to the boosting, sharing or reposting of such posts to increase their reach — because this is similar to posting fresh content
• A clarification that paid election advertising will include direct and indirect payments, as well as monetary and non-monetary payments

All election advertising, whether paid or unpaid, will be required to publish the full names of all who play an “active role” in publishing them, ELD said. 

These proposed requirements do not apply to Singapore citizens who are not candidates or election agents, who publish online election advertisements in their personal capacity, and did not pay or receive payment or directions to do so.

BETTER ACCESSIBILITY FOR SELECTED VOTERS 

The amendment Bills also proposed the following improvements in voting arrangements to make it easier for elderly voters to cast their votes, which were announced in July last year:

• Special polling stations can be established within the premises of nursing homes
• Mobile polling teams can be deployed for residents to cast their votes by the bed

Factors taken into consideration in carrying out these arrangements included the number of voters in the nursing home and availability of a suitable area for the polling station.

To improve voting accessibility for overseas Singaporeans, the Bills will propose allowing overseas postal voting.

Other changes to the Parliamentary Elections Act included:

• Removing the need for existing overseas voters to re-register themselves as overseas voters before each election
• Allowing Singaporeans to qualify as overseas voters as long as they have resided in Singapore for a total of 30 days in the preceding three years from the date of application as an overseas voter

The return envelopes containing postal ballot papers must be postmarked before Polling Day and reach the Returning Officer in Singapore within 10 days after Polling Day in Singapore to be accepted for counting.

“Accepting only return envelopes postmarked before Polling Day will ensure that the votes are cast before close of poll in Singapore,” ELD said.