On July 4, Kenneth Jeyaretnam, Secretary-General of the Reform Party (RP), posted a video on RP's Facebook page, explaining why the party only sent two representatives to their constituency broadcast.
In his video, he claimed that the party was only given notice of the recording schedule at the last minute, and that he was not allowed to make his speech while serving his Stay-Home Notice (SHN).
Jeyaretnam claimed that they were only informed of the session a day before
Jeyaretnam said that although this was supposed to be a "digital election", the arrangements for the constituency broadcasts were decidedly "of the old kind", and "completely rigid".
He claimed that that the RP received an email from IMDA the day before their recording day, telling them to report to IMDA by 10am the next day.
He said that most of the party members were "ordinary citizens" and "not of the elite kind", so they were unable to make it on short notice, due to their own obligations.
He also said that one of their candidates had "something" which meant that he was only available from 4pm onwards that day.
Jeyaretnam said that he emailed IMDA, requesting the recording session to be postponed until 4pm that day, which IMDA denied.
He also said that he requested for the session to be delayed for half an hour, in order to allow for their Chairman to arrive, which was also denied.
Jeyaretnam, who is currently serving a SHN after returning from the UK, also apparently requested to make his speech from a remote location, a request that he claimed was also denied.
He then criticised the election, claiming that it was "completely one-sided".
Jeyaretnam also claimed that the party will be lodging a complaint to the United Nations after this election.
You can see the full video here:
IMDA responds, said that parties were briefed days before
According to IMDA, all political parties were briefed on June 26, before Nomination Day.
This included the format and recording schedules, which were planned for July 2 to 4.
IMDA said that parties were informed that recording slots would be confirmed after Nomination Day, and that representatives from RP were present, and no concerns were raised.
The recording schedules were sent to all political parties on July 1, and RP's representatives were contacted via email and phone call.
IMDA stated that RP representatives acknowledged receipt, and that no queries or concerns were raised.
"It is not true that Mr Jeyaratnam was not allowed to record a CPB because he was serving a Stay Home Notice. IMDA never received any request to do so," said IMDA.
IMDA also said that on July 2, half an hour prior to RP's recording slot, RP sent an email requesting to postpone the session.
At the time, two RP representatives were already present on location, and they proceeded with their CPB recording.
IMDA said that it was not possible to reschedule the session, as postponement would impact the recording for other parties and candidates.
According to IMDA, all other parties and candidates were able to record their political broadcasts in accordance with the allocation rules and their allocated slots.
Top image from CNA/YouTube.