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The Presidential Elections (Amendment) and Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bills were introduced for their first readings in Parliament on Feb. 6, as part of the Elections Department's continual efforts to improve voting arrangements and the electoral process.

According to an Elections Department press release on Feb. 6, the Bills aim to:

• Improve voting arrangements for voters in nursing homes and overseas
• Update election advertising laws
• Update election expenses rules
• Strengthen election processes, including barring children and foreign entities from election activities
• Change certain election committee procedures

Singapore will see at least one election this year, with the presidential election to be called by Sep. 13, 2023.

Here are the changes to expect, if the Bills are passed in their current form:

Voters in nursing homes and abroad

The Bills provide for Returning Officers to establish special polling stations within the premises of nursing homes, to make it more convenient for residents to vote.

Mobile polling teams will also be deployed so residents can cast their votes by their beds, if necessary.

Overseas voters

Singaporeans residing overseas will be able to vote by post. Return envelopes containing the postal ballot papers must be postmarked before Polling Day. This will ensure that the votes are cast before the polls close in Singapore.

Also, the envelopes must reach the custody of the Returning Officer within 10 days after Polling Day in Singapore to be accepted for counting.

The criteria for residency in Singapore will be assessed more flexibly. They can qualify to register as overseas voters as long as they have resided in Singapore for an aggregate of 30 days in the preceding three years from the date of application as an overseas voter, instead of a three year period prior to Mar. 1 of any year.

The current deadline for an overseas voter to register will still be two days after the Writ of Election.

Overseas voters will also not need to re-register as overseas voters whenever the Registers of Electors are revised.

Their status will be retained unless they cancel their overseas voting registration, or their names have been removed.

Election advertising laws update

Amplification of existing online election advertising will be subject to the same requirements as publishing new advertisements, as according to the Elections Department, amplification increases the reach to more users and has the "same effect" as publishing new content.

It is also clarified that paid election advertising will cover payments that are both direct and indirect (such as through an intermediary) and both monetary and non-monetary. This is to ensure a "level playing field" by covering various forms of payment under campaign spending limits.

Rules for election advertising

All paid and unpaid election advertising will be subject to the following rules, in the interest of transparency and accountability:

Election advertising will be required to display the full names of all who played an "active role" in its publication, including:

• Person(s) responsible for publishing the advertisement.
• Person(s) who approved the advertisement's content.
• Person(s) who directed the advertisement to be published.
• The printer, if the advertisement is printed.
• The person who paid for the advertisement, if it is paid for.

There are exceptions for Singapore citizens who are not candidates or election agents who publish online election advertisements in their personal capacity, and did not pay, receive payment or act under the directions of others in doing so.

Takedown powers

Returning Officers will also be given powers to direct any content publisher (e.g. individuals, social media companies) to take "all reasonable steps" to do one or more of the following actions, if the laws governing online election advertisements are breached:

• Ensure the removal of the advertisement.
• Disable access to the advertisement by Singapore end-users.
• Stop or reduce access to, or further communication, of the advertisement to Singapore end-users.

Elections expenses

Technical corrections, such as omissions, to elections expenses returns may be filed with the Returning Officer by submitting fresh returns. These must be made before the deadline, which is 31 days after the election result has been published in the Government Gazette.

Elections expenses returns will also be made available online for inspection at Elections Department website. Under the current rules, they can only be inspected physically.

The Returning Officer will also be empowered to audit such returns submitted by the election agent of a candidate to ascertain that they are in order.

The audit will be carried out in accordance with "generally accepted accounting standards".

Strengthening election processes

Children and foreign entities

The Bills will bar individuals under 16 from taking part in election activities, to prevent children from exploitation during elections. This refines the current rules which are not age-based and prohibit students attending primary or secondary schools.

The current Acts bar foreign individuals from participating in election activities, the Bills will also bar foreign entities from the same.

The Minister is also empowered to put in place contingency arrangements arising from disruptive events, like floods, to enable the Returning Officer to conduct safe and timely elections.

The Bills also propose to allow for polling stations to be set up in an adjacent electoral division, for convenience of voters residing near the boundary.

Presidential Elections Committee procedures

Presidential candidates

The committee is responsible for ensuring that presidential candidates have qualifications as set out in Article 19 of the Constitution, e.g. a person of integrity, good character and reputation, and whether they satisfy either the public or private sector service requirement.

The Bill streamlines processes to remove the requirement for the committee to consider applications from applicants below 45 years old, and those who do not submit a community declaration for the community that the election is reserved for.

Community declaration

The Community Committee decides whether a candidate who has submitted a community declaration belongs to the Chinese, Malay, or Indian or other communities.

Currently, it needs to notify every candidate that their declarations have been accepted for consideration. The Bill will remove the need to do so for every declaration. The committee will only need to do so for the following:

Notify a declarant who declared that he does not belong to (i) the Chinese community, (ii) the Malay community, and (iii) the Indian or other minority communities for an open election that his declaration is accepted.

Notify a declarant that his community declaration is rejected as it is incomplete, or in the case of a reserved election, not made for the relevant community the election is reserved for.

In all other situations, the community declaration will be accepted for consideration without the need for explicit notification.

Top image by Lauren Choo.