Short title 1.
This
Act may be cited as the Parliamentary Elections Act.
Interpretation 2.
—(1)
In
this Act, unless the context otherwise requires —
"ballot
box"
includes a ballot container;
"ballot
display"
means an electronic
video display, image or representation of a ballot paper on a screen;
"candidate"
means a person who is nominated as
a candidate for election to any seat in Parliament;
"Commissioner
of National Registration"
means
the Commissioner of National Registration appointed under the National
Registration Act (Cap. 201);
“direct recording electronic
voting machine” or “DRE voting machine” means any mechanical, electronic or
electro-optical machine that can —
(a)
be activated by a voter to mark or
record his vote for any candidate or group of candidates on a ballot
display on the machine;
(b)
process the vote by means of a computer
program;
(c)
instantaneously record and store that
vote within a memory device within the machine; and
(d)
sort and count votes marked or recorded
on all ballot displays on that machine,
and includes any computer program that
is used in the operation of the machine;
"direct
recording electronic voting system"
or “DRE
voting system” means any voting system using DRE voting
machines;
"election"
means an election for the purpose
of electing a Member of Parliament;
"election advertising"
means any poster, banner, notice,
circular, handbill, illustration, article, advertisement or other
material that can reasonably be regarded as intended —
(a)
to promote or procure the electoral
success at any election for one or more identifiable political parties,
candidates or groups of candidates; or
(b)
to otherwise enhance the standing
of any such political parties, candidates or groups of candidates
with the electorate in connection with any election,
and such material shall be election
advertising even though it can reasonably be regarded as intended
to achieve any other purpose as well and even though it does not
expressly mention the name of any political party or candidate,
but excludes any button, badge, pen, pencil, balloon and any other
thing prescribed by the Minister by notification in the Gazette;
"elector"
means a person whose name is entered
in a register as an elector to vote at an election;
"electoral
division"
means an electoral
division specified in the notification for the time being in force
under section 8;
"general
election"
means a general election
of Members after a dissolution of Parliament;
"group"
means a group of not less than 3 but
not more than 6 candidates nominated for any election in any group
representation constituency in accordance with section 27B;
"group
representation constituency"
means
any electoral division declared to be a group representation constituency
under section 8A (1) (a);
"Member"
means a Member of Parliament;
"overseas
elector"
means an elector who
is registered under section 13 or 13A in any register of electors
as an overseas elector;
"overseas
polling station"
means such premises
within an embassy, High Commission, diplomatic mission or consulate
of Singapore situated in any territory outside Singapore as the
Returning Officer may approve under section 36A (2) to be an overseas
polling station;
"overseas
registration centre"
means an
overseas registration centre established under section 10 (4);
"Parliament"
means the Parliament of Singapore
established by the Constitution;
"political party"
means a political party which is registered
under the Societies Act (Cap. 311);
"polling
district"
means a part of an
electoral division subdivided under section 9;
"polling
station"
means any polling station
established by or under the authority of the Returning Officer under
section 36A for voters to cast their votes at an election, and includes
any overseas polling station;
"presidential
election"
means an election under
the Presidential Elections Act (Cap. 240A);
"principal
election agent"
means an election
agent of a candidate in a group who has been appointed under section
62 (5) as the principal election agent for that group;
"public
authority"
means any body corporate,
board or authority established by or under any written law for the
performance of any public function, but excludes any Town Council
constituted under the Town Councils Act (Cap. 329A);
"publish"
means make available to the general
public, or any section thereof, in whatever form and by whatever
means, including broadcasting (by wireless telegraphy or otherwise)
and transmitting on what is commonly known as the Internet;
“register” or “register
of electors” means
the register of electors for any particular electoral division comprising
sections, each of which shall relate to a polling district of that
electoral division;
“Registration Officer” and “Assistant
Registration Officer” mean
respectively the Registration Officer and an Assistant Registration
Officer appointed under section 3;
"Returning
Officer"
means the Returning
Officer appointed under section 3;
"Revising
Officer"
means a Revising Officer
appointed under section 12;
"voter"
means a person who, whether his name
does or does not appear in a register of electors, applies to vote
or votes at an election.
[10/88; 9/91;42/96;18/99;19/2001]
(2)
For
the purposes of this Act —
(a)
the reference to electoral success
at any election shall be a reference —
(i)
in relation to any political party,
to the return at any such election of candidates or groups of candidates
standing in the name of the party; and
(ii)
in relation to candidates or groups
of candidates, to their return at any such election;
(b)
the
reference to the doing of anything mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b) of the
definition of “election advertising” shall
include doing so by prejudicing the electoral prospects at the election
of other political parties, candidates or groups of candidates or
(as the case may be) by prejudicing the standing with the electorate
of other political parties, candidates or groups of candidates;
and
(c)
the reference to candidates or groups
of candidates shall include any person or group of persons (whether
or not a member of any political party) who, on or after the date
of the issue of a writ for the election is declared, by himself
or others, as seeking nomination as a candidate at that election.
Appointment of officers 3.
—(1)
The
Minister may appoint a Registration Officer and a Returning Officer and
such Assistant Registration Officers as he may from time to time
think fit.
(2)
An Assistant Registration Officer shall
have all the powers and may perform all the duties of the Registration
Officer.
(3)
Any reference in this Act to the Registration
Officer shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be deemed
to include a reference to an Assistant Registration Officer.
(4)
An appointment made by the Minister
under this section may be revoked by him at any time.
Appointment of clerks and interpreters 4.
—(1)
The
Registration Officer and the Returning Officer may, from time to time,
appoint such numbers of clerks and interpreters as may be necessary
for the purposes of this Act.
(2)
The appointments made under subsection
(1) may be revoked at any time.
Qualification of electors 5.
—(1)
Subject
to sections 6 and 7, any person who on the prescribed date in any year —
(a)
is a citizen of Singapore;
(b)
is ordinarily resident in Singapore;
and
(c)
is not less than 21 years of age,
shall be entitled to have his name entered
or retained in a register of electors in that year.
[42/96]
(1A)
For the purposes
of subsection (1) (b), a person shall be deemed
to be ordinarily resident in Singapore on the prescribed date in
a year if, on that date —
(a)
the person is not resident in Singapore
but has resided in Singapore for an aggregate of 2 years during
the period of 5 years immediately preceding the prescribed date;
or
(b)
the person is —
(i)
a member of the Singapore Armed Forces
on full-time training or service outside Singapore;
(ii)
a public officer or an employee of
any public authority employed in full-time service outside Singapore;
(iii)
a public officer or an employee of
a public authority on full-time training outside Singapore;
(iv)
a citizen of Singapore of not less
than 21 years of age on full-time training outside Singapore that
is sponsored by the Government or any public authority;
(v)
employed outside Singapore by an international
organisation of which Singapore is a member or by any other body
or organisation designated by the President under Article 135 (1)
(c) (ii) of the Constitution of the Republic
of Singapore; or
(vi)
the spouse or a parent, child or dependant
of any person referred to in sub-paragraph (i), (ii), (iii), (iv)
or (v) and is living with that person.
[19/2001]
(2)
For the purposes of the preparation
or revision of any register of electors a person who is a citizen
of Singapore and to whom an identity card has been issued or deemed
to have been issued on or before the prescribed date in any year
under the provisions of the National Registration Act (Cap. 201)
and has not been withdrawn shall, until the contrary be shown, be
presumed —
(a)
to be ordinarily resident in Singapore
on the prescribed date in that year;
(b)
to be not less than 21 years of age
on the prescribed date in that year, if from the particulars recorded
in the register maintained by the Commissioner of National Registration
he appears to be not less than that age on that date; and
(c)
to reside in the electoral division
and polling district of the electoral division in which is situated
the latest address shown on the prescribed date in the register
maintained by the Commissioner of National Registration.
[42/96;19/2001]
(3)
Notwithstanding subsection (2), the
Registration Officer may, in preparing or revising any register
of electors, omit therefrom the name of any person where he has
reason to believe that the latest address of the person shown on
the prescribed date in the register maintained by the Commissioner
of National Registration has ceased to exist or to be used as a
place of residence or is an address situated outside Singapore.
[19/2001]
(4)
For the purposes of subsections (1),
(1A) and (2), the prescribed date shall be 1st July or such other
date as the Minister may, by order published in the Gazette, specify*.
* Parliamentary Elections (Prescribed
Date) Order (O 4) which specified 31st May in any year to be the
prescribed date w.e.f 21st May 1999.
[42/96;19/2001]
(5)
No order shall be made under subsection
(4) between the date of commencement of any preparation or revision
of any register of electors for any year and the date of certification
of that register under this Act (both dates inclusive).
[42/96]
(6)
For the purposes
of this section, the contact address of the holder of an identity card
referred to in section 8 (2) of the National Registration Act (Cap.
201) shall be regarded as his latest address in the register maintained
by the Commissioner of National Registration.
[19/2001]
Disqualification of electors 6.
—(1)
No
person shall be entitled to have his name entered or retained in
any register of electors if he —
(a)
has taken any oath or made any declaration
or acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience or adherence to any foreign
power or state or does, concurs in or adopts any act done with the
intention that he shall become a subject or citizen of any foreign
power or state or is the holder of a passport issued by any foreign
power or state;
(b)
is
serving a sentence of imprisonment (by whatever name called) imposed by
any court in or outside Singapore for an offence punishable with
imprisonment for a term exceeding 12 months, or is under sentence
of death imposed by any such court or is serving a sentence of imprisonment
awarded in lieu of execution of any such sentence;
(c)
is under any written law found or
declared to be of unsound mind;
(d)
is incapable of being registered by
reason of his conviction of a corrupt or illegal practice under
this Act or the Presidential Elections Act (Cap. 240A) or by reason
of the report of an Election Judge in accordance with the provisions
of this Act or the Presidential Elections Act or by reason of his
conviction under section 55 of this Act or section 37 of the Presidential Elections
Act;
(e)
is a serving member on full pay of
any naval, military or air force not maintained out of moneys provided
by Parliament unless he possesses a domicile in Singapore;
(f)
is a person whose name is entered
on a register of electors in any other country or territory;
(g)
is a person whose name has been expunged
from the register under sections 13 (3) and 43 (5) and whose name
has not been restored to the register under section 43 (8) or (8A),
as the case may be; or
(h)
is a person whose name has been expunged
from the register of electors under section 26 (5) of the Presidential
Elections Act (Cap 240A) and whose name has not been restored to
the register under section 26 (8) of that Act.
[27/91;18/94;19/2001]
(1A)
Without prejudice
to subsection (1), no person who is deemed to be ordinarily resident
in Singapore under section 5 (1A) shall be entitled to have his
name entered or retained in any register of electors if he is —
(a)
serving a sentence of imprisonment
(by whatever name called) in any prison, jail or other place of
detention outside Singapore;
(b)
accused of an offence against any
written law punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding 12
months and a warrant of arrest by a court in Singapore authorising
his apprehension in relation to that offence remains in force; or
(c)
convicted by any court in Singapore
of any offence punishable with imprisonment for a term exceeding
12 months and a warrant of arrest by a court in Singapore authorising
his apprehension in relation to that offence remains in force.
[19/2001]
(2)
For the purposes of subsection (1)
(b), where the conviction is by a court of law outside
Singapore, the person shall not be so disqualified unless the offence
is also one which, had it been committed in Singapore, would have
been punishable by a court of law in Singapore.
[19/2001]
Plural voting 7.
—(1)
Subject
to the provisions of this Act, a person shall be entitled to have
his name entered in the register of one electoral division only.
(2)
Any person who
votes as an elector —
(a)
in or in respect of an electoral division
other than the electoral division in which he is registered;
(b)
more than once at any election in
or in respect of the same electoral division in which he is registered
as an elector; or
(c)
in or in respect of more than one
electoral division at any general election,
shall be guilty of an illegal practice.
[19/2001]
(3)
The court before which a person is
convicted under subsection (2) may, in its discretion in the circumstances
of any particular case, mitigate or remit any penalty or incapacity
which may be imposed in respect thereof under section 79.
Electoral divisions 8.
—(1)
The
Minister may, from time to time, by notification in the Gazette,
specify the names and boundaries of the electoral divisions of Singapore
for purposes of elections under this Act.
[22/84]
(2)
The number of electoral divisions of
Singapore shall be the total number of the electoral divisions specified
in the notification made under subsection (1).
[22/84]
Group representation constituencies 8A.
—(1)
For
the purposes of electing Members of Parliament on a group basis
to ensure the representation in Parliament of Members from the Malay,
Indian and other minority communities under this Act, the President
shall, subject to this section, by order published in the Gazette —
(a)
declare any electoral division, having
regard to the number of electors in that division, to be a group
representation constituency and designate that constituency as a
constituency in which any election is to be held on the basis of
a group of such number of candidates, being not less than 3 but
not more than 6; and
(b)
designate every group representation
constituency as —
(i)
a constituency where at least one
of the candidates in every group shall be a person belonging to
the Malay community; or
(ii)
a constituency where at least one
of the candidates in every group shall be a person belonging to
the Indian or other minority communities.
[10/88;9/91;42/96]
(1A)
There shall at all times be at least
8 electoral divisions which are not group representation constituencies.
[42/96]
(2)
The number of Members to be returned
by all group representation constituencies shall not be less than
one-quarter of the total number of Members to be returned at a general
election.
[10/88;9/91;42/96]
(3)
The number of group representation
constituencies to be designated under subsection (1) (b)
(i) shall be three-fifths of the total number of group representation constituencies;
and where that number is not a whole number, it shall be rounded
to the next higher whole number.
[10/88]
Polling districts 9.
—(1)
Whenever
any electoral division of Singapore is altered or a new division is
created, the Registration Officer shall —
(a)
subdivide that division into polling
districts;
(b)
assign to each such polling district
a distinguishing letter or letters; and
(c)
publish in the Gazette a
notice in Form 2 in First Schedule specifying —
(i)
the polling districts into which that
electoral division has been subdivided; and
(ii)
the distinguishing letter or letters
assigned to each such polling district.
(2)
The subdivision of an electoral division
into polling districts may be altered by the Registration Officer
as occasion may require; and upon any such alteration being made
he shall publish in the Gazette a notice specifying
in relation to that electoral division the particulars mentioned
in subsection (1) (c).
(3)
Any alteration under subsection (1)
shall come into effect on the date of the publication of the notice
under section 20 (1) relating to the next certification of the register
of electors for that electoral division, but the revision of the
register before such certification shall be made on the basis of
that alteration.