The period starting on the eve of Polling Day (i.e. Cooling-off Day) and ending at the close of polling on Polling Day is called the “cooling-off period”.
This is a campaign silence period to give voters some time to reflect rationally on issues raised during the election for each electoral division.
This means campaigning is banned and no fresh election advertising, whether Online Election Advertising (OEA) or non-online election advertising such as Traditional Election Advertising (TEA) (i.e. banners, flags or posters),
shall be published or publicly displayed during the cooling-off period.
The rules apply to any person, including candidates, election agents and authorised third parties.
The following activities are not allowed during the cooling-off period:
- to publish or publicly display, or cause to be published or publicly displayed any election advertising,
including OEA and TEA, that is not already lawfully published or displayed;
- to share/re-share/re-post/boost OEA that was published before the cooling-off period;
- canvassing whether in the following forms or otherwise, such as walkabouts, door-to-door visits,
visiting homes and workplaces of voters for election purposes in connection with the election;
- wearing, using, carrying or displaying campaign propaganda
(with the exception that only a candidate is allowed to wear a replica of the symbol allotted to him or to the group of candidates to which he belongs); and/or
- holding of election meetings.
Candidates should therefore refrain from visiting electors or attending public events on Cooling-off Day and Polling Day.
However, attending religious ceremonies or worship services, or attending functions in the course of work or employment is still permissible.
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
Widening the reach of OEA during the cooling-off period
(even OEA that was lawfully published before the cooling-off period and is unchanged) is not permitted.
Such deliberate widening that is prohibited includes sharing,
re-sharing, re-posting or paying to boost the OEA on social media platforms.
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EXCEPTIONS TO PROHIBITIONS
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There are some exceptions to the prohibition of election advertising during the cooling-off period. The following are allowed:
- TEA that was lawfully publicly displayed before the start of Cooling-off Day and not relocated, altered or modified since the start of the cooling-off period;
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lawful OEA that was already in place before the start of Cooling-off Day, and has not had its reach widened during the cooling-off period through sharing/re-sharing/reposting/boosting;
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public display of any non-online election advertising on an exterior wall or exterior window of:
(a) any building or part of a building occupied by a political party as its office,
or (b) any building partly occupied by a political party as its office, provided that the non-online election advertising:
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consists only of the name or symbol (or both) of the political party; and
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is solely for the purpose of indicating that the office of the political party is or is within the building;
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news reports in the newspapers, on radio or on television relating to election matters by authorised news agencies;
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promotional materials relating to the commercial sale of literary or artistic works such as books, if these works were previously scheduled for publication regardless of any election;
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the communication of content between two or more individuals that is of a private or domestic nature using electronic means, such as individuals sharing election-related content within a private chat or close group with family or friends; or
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the communication of content using electronic means to a closed group of end-users who are employed or engaged in a business, for the conduct of that business.
