Police probe alleged breach of election rules by The Middle Ground

SINGAPORE — Socio-political website The Middle Ground (TMG) has been instructed to take down a report that polled 50 residents on the political party they are likely to vote for, among other things, ahead of the Bukit Batok by-election on Saturday (May 7).

The Media Development Authority (MDA) said the TMG article, titled “BB BE: 50 voters in Bukit Batok”, contravened the Parliamentary Elections Act. The police are looking into the matter, said the Elections Department (ELD) in response to TODAY’s queries.

The ELD said the MDA, on behalf of the election’s returning officer, lodged a police report at 12.39pm on Friday at the Dover Neighbourhood Police Post.

Section 78C (1) of the Act forbids the publication of results of any election survey once the writ of election is issued and until voting closes.

Anyone who breaches this clause could be fined up to S$1,500 and/or jailed up to 12 months. Under Singapore law, exit polls are also banned and offenders are subject to the same penalty.

The ELD said an “election survey” refers to an opinion poll of how electors will vote at an election, or of the preferences of electors with respect to any candidate, political party, or issue that a candidate is associated with.

The writ for the by-election was issued on April 20.

In the article dated May 5, TMG reporters surveyed 50 residents on their thoughts, including which party they are likely to cast their votes for, and why — this contravened the Parliamentary Elections Act, said the ELD.

“The title of TMG’s article suggests that electors in the by-election were surveyed. A significant number of those polled indicated the candidate they would vote for, directly or indirectly. This is confirmed in a separate TMG article containing their response to the take-down notice, in which they stated that they asked Bukit Batok voters over the past week about how they would vote,” it added.

The take-down notice was issued to TMG at 9.30am on Friday, asking it to remove the article “as soon as possible and no later than 3.30pm”, said the ELD.

In an update on its website at 11am on Friday, TMG initially said the MDA had directed it to take down the report by 3.30pm. However, at about 1.40pm, TMG said it had been told by the MDA to take down the report “immediately”.

TMG said the article was not meant to be an election survey.

“We asked Bukit Batok voters over the past week about how they will vote. Not many gave answers. In fact, most went on to talk about the sort of Member of Parliament they would like to see elected. It’s not meant to be an electoral survey. The (Government) thinks it is,” TMG said on its website.

It plans to reinstate the article after polling concludes, adding that the article is part of its “popular and long-running 50 Faces series”.

The website had polled residents at Tanjong Pagar and Punggol East in a similar manner prior to the General Election last September, but these were published before the writ of election was issued on Aug 25 last year.

Prior to the Punggol East by-election in January 2013, The Straits Times was found to have breached the Act by publishing results from its survey of 50 residents on which party they were rooting for. The article titled “ST poll: More rooting for PAP” gave a breakdown of supporters for each party, and the number of residents who were
undecided.

The broadsheet was given a stern warning and its editor Warren Fernandez apologised for the lapse, noting that the article was not a full-scale survey, and that its headline overstated the significance of information gathered.

In September 2011, Dr Joseph Ong Chor Teck was arrested for conducting an exit poll on the 2011 General Election on the then-Temasek Review’s Facebook page. The socio-political website has since been renamed TR Emeritus.