After the election, candidates and their election agents will need to submit the following:
Singapore’s politics is a matter only for Singaporeans to decide and should be free from foreign influence. To guard against foreign interference in Singapore elections, every candidate must submit to the Returning Officer a declaration that the candidate and his election agent:
The declaration must be submitted not later than the seventh day after the election result is published in the Government Gazette and this can be done via the Candidate Services after Polling Day for contested elections (or after close of nomination proceedings for uncontested elections).
The election agent of every candidate must submit the return respecting election expenses and declarations by both the election agent and the candidate to the Returning Officer within 31 days after the election result is published in the Government Gazette. The return respecting election expenses and declarations are required to ensure accountability and transparency in each candidate’s campaign finances. The return respecting election expenses and declarations may be submitted online via Candidate Services.
For more information on the inspection of the return respecting election expenses and declarations, candidates may refer to the Post-election Activities webpage.
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Declarations by Election Agent and Candidate
For each return respecting election expenses and declarations, the election agent of the candidate must provide details on all expenses incurred, all disputed and unpaid claims, and all donations accepted by the election agent or the candidate on account of or in respect of the conduct or management of the election campaign of the candidate. These details are necessary for compliance purposes. Both the election agent and the candidate will have to declare that the return prepared by the election agent is complete and correct, and that no other expenses of any nature have been incurred in, or for the purpose of, the candidate’s candidature at that election. The election agent should ensure that both declarations are duly signed before submitting the return to the Returning Officer.
The Return Respecting Election Expenses and Declarations by Candidate and Election Agent form has four sections which must be completed accurately as follows:
Fill in the total amount of expenses for each category, in Singapore dollars, rounded up to the nearest dollar. Some examples are provided below:
Online election advertising
e.g. Paid Online Election Advertising (OEA), such as payment for social media sponsored posts, website banner advertisements, and hosting or designing of the candidate website;
Non-online election advertising
e.g. Design and production of Traditional Election Advertising (TEA) such as posters, banners and flags, vehicular wraps for perambulating vehicles, distribution of flyers, rental of vehicles for putting up TEA;
Transport expenses
e.g. Rental of perambulating vehicles, rental of buses to ferry helpers or supporters; and
Other expenses
e.g. Food and refreshment, purchase of Registers of Electors and electoral division maps.
Note: No item of expenditure should be reported under more than one category of spending. The election agent must record the amount accurately and put it into the category which fits best.
(1) Disputed claims
Claims for payment of election expenses are legally required to be paid no later than 28 days after the day on which the election result is published in the Government Gazette.
If an election agent disputes any claim in respect of election expenses incurred by the candidate, and refuses or fails to pay the claim within the specified time period of 28 days, details of such a claim should be provided in this section.
For each disputed claim, fill in the details of:
the name and address of the claimant;
a description of the item or service to which the claim relates; and
the amount in dispute in Singapore dollars, rounded up to the nearest dollar.
(2) Unpaid claims
Claims for payment of election expenses are legally required to be submitted not later than 14 days after the election result is published in the Government Gazette.
Where a claim in respect of election expenses incurred by the candidate is unpaid because it is not sent to the election agent within the 14-day deadline, and an application in respect thereof has been made or is about to be made to an Election Judge or a Judge sitting in the General Division of the High Court, details of such a claim should be provided in this section.
For each unpaid claim, fill in the details of:
the name and address of the claimant;
a description of the item or service to which the claim relates; and
the amount unpaid in Singapore dollars, rounded up to the nearest dollar.
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If the election agent of a candidate spots any error[1] or omission in any content in the return respecting election expenses (i.e. the original return) after its submission, he may apply to the Returning Officer to correct the error or omission in the original return via Candidate Services. The application must be accompanied by:
The election agent may make more than one application to correct the original return. Every fresh return respecting election expenses and fresh set of statement and declaration by the election agent and the candidate must be treated as replacing any original return and any statement and declaration relating to the original return. However, applications to correct errors or omissions in earlier returns will not be allowed beyond 31 days after the election result is published in the Government Gazette.
[1] “Error” includes any misnomer, misspelling, misprint, misplacement, mistake, inaccuracy, omission, and any clerical, technical or printing error, and any error of any other description or nature. Examples of technical corrections include blank entries due to inadvertent omissions, miscalculation during tallies, and corrections made without a signature initialled against it.The election agent must submit the post-election disclosures of reportable political donations to the Registrar, Registry of Political Donations, regarding all reportable political donations received and accepted by or on behalf of the candidate during the relevant reporting period, no later than 31 days after the election result is published in the Government Gazette. A nil report should be made if no such donation was received and accepted.
The donations to be disclosed are those received and accepted between the date of the election agent’s pre-election declaration (or 2 clear days before Nomination Day if no declaration had been made by then) and the date of the election agent’s post-election declaration (both dates inclusive).
As the details of recordable donations would have been set out in the Return Respecting Election Expenses and Declarations by Candidate and Election Agent form, the election agent and the candidate are required to disclose only the total amount of those donations. The election agent must also declare that, during the relevant reporting period, the candidate did not accept anonymous political donations totalling $5,000 or more. For more details on political donations, candidates and election agents may refer to the Political Donations webpage, Part 5 of the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021 and the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Regulations 2023.
The disclosures can be done via Candidate Services after Polling Day for contested elections (or after the close of nomination proceedings for uncontested elections).
Under the Foreign Interference (Countermeasures) Act 2021 (FICA), election agents must disclose to the Registrar, Registry of Political Donations, every reportable arrangement on foreign affiliations to which they are party (including migration benefits granted by or on behalf of a foreign government), from the day after they were appointed as an election agent to the 31st day after the election result is published in the Government Gazette.
Election agents will need to make the disclosures online via Candidate Services after Polling Day for contested elections (or after the close of nomination proceedings for uncontested elections).
