Candidates can only start their election campaigns from the close of nomination, and up to before the eve of Polling Day.
Candidates should conduct election campaigning in a responsible and dignified manner that befits the seriousness of the election process. They should steer away from negative campaigning practices based on hate and denigration of opposing candidates, and should not make false statements that allege corruption or commission of criminal offences, or statements that may cause racial or religious tensions or affect social cohesion. Egregious acts of negative campaigning could also be in breach of the law.
Election Expenses Limit
The maximum amount a candidate can spend on election expenses is:
- capped at $4 for each elector in that electoral division for Single Member Constituency (SMC)
- capped at $4 for each elector in that electoral division divided by the number of candidates in the group for Group Representation Constituency (GRC)
The election expenses may be incurred before, during or after an election.
At the end of the Parliamentary election, every candidate and his election agent must account for all his election expenses incurred by or on behalf of the candidate in the conduct and management of election.
Internet Election Advertising
Candidates or their election agents are required to declare to the Returning Officer the particulars of every Internet election advertising (IEA) platform/account on which election advertising is or will be published by or on the candidates’ behalf during the campaign period, which starts with the close of nomination proceedings and ends on the eve of Polling Day. In addition, candidates or their election agents need to declare to the Returning Officer whether they are using paid IEA, and if so, provide further information on the type of services used (e.g. advertisement on a social media platform, blog advertorial within a website); the publisher of the paid IEA, the period that the paid IEA will appear; whether money was received for the placement of the paid IEA from the candidate, his election agent, his political party or any other person. They must submit their declarations via the Candidate Services.
The first declaration must be sent to the Returning Officer within 12 hours after the start of the campaign period. Thereafter, a declaration must be submitted to the Returning Officer at any time before the election advertising is published on any additional platform/account during the campaign period, by or on the candidate’s behalf.
Posters & Banners
The display of posters and banners advertising for a candidate or group of candidates during the campaign period must comply with the conditions listed in the Returning Officer’s permit for such display of posters and banners. No person shall display or cause to be displayed in any public place election posters and banners without authorisation by the Returning Officer.
Posters and banners must be removed within the period stated in the permit after Polling Day and the failure to do so is an offence. Candidates or their election agents have to ensure that all of their posters and banners are taken down within the specified period stated in the Returning Officer's permit and properly disposed of after the elections.
A copy of each of the posters and banners must be lodged with the Returning Officer before they are displayed. All posters and banners displayed must bear the official stamp issued by the Returning Officer.
In general, campaign posters and banners may be hung on street lamp posts along public roads, but they are not allowed within a radius of 50 metres from a polling station.
Purchase of Registers of Electors to communicate with electors
Under the law, political parties, candidates and their election agents can use the information recorded in the Registers of Electors (e.g. elector’s name and address) only for communicating with electors. The information must not be used for commercial or other purposes.
To do so, they may put in a request to purchase a copy of a Register of Electors via the online form. The unit price of each register is $130.80 (inclusive of 9% GST) and payment for each request must be made in a single PayNow transaction. The purchased register[1] will be ready within one week upon request, and the requestor will receive an email notification informing him that the purchased register is ready for download via FileSG[2]. Downloads will only be available for a one-week period. After which, the files will be deleted from the platform and the requestor will be informed accordingly via email.
For information on how the Personal Data Protection Act 2012 applies to election activities, including the use of information in the Registers of Electors, refer to the Advisory Guidelines on Application of Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) to Election Activities.
[1] Each purchased register will be provided in softcopy format, i.e. a password-protected zipped folder within which is a folder containing the data files for the Register of Electors of an electoral division. For enhanced security, all data files will be encrypted and password protected. Requestors, who purchased the Register of Electors of more than one electoral division, will see multiple folders when they unzip the zipped folder (i.e. one folder per electoral division).
[2] FileSG is a secure digital document management platform, developed by the Government Technology Agency (GovTech), that allows members of the public to easily access and download documents issued by the government.