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);
"contact address"
, in relation to any person, means
the person’s contact address under section 8(2) of the
National Registration Act;
“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 in 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 of the following premises
situated outside Singapore as the Returning Officer may approve
under section 36A(2) to be an overseas polling station:
(a)
an embassy, a High Commission, diplomatic
mission, permanent mission or consulate of Singapore (or any part
thereof) in a country or territory outside Singapore;
(b)
the official residence (or any part
thereof) of any person who is appointed to hold or act in any of
the following offices in a country or territory outside Singapore:
(i)
an ambassador, a High Commissioner,
Consulate-General or head of a diplomatic mission or consulate;
(ii)
the Permanent Representative; or
(iii)
such other senior diplomatic or consular
office as the Minister may, from time to time, prescribe;
"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; 31/2001]
(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 a reference to 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.
[31/2001;18/2005;2/2007]
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 the person has resided in Singapore for an aggregate
of 30 days during the period of 3 years immediately preceding the
prescribed date, even though the person is not resident in Singapore on
that date.
(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 2006 (S 1/2006) which specified 1st January
in any year to be the prescribed date w.e.f 3rd January 2006.
[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 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
done any of the following:
(i)
acquired or applied to acquire by
registration, naturalisation or other voluntary and formal act (other
than marriage) the citizenship of any country outside Singapore;
(ii)
voluntarily claimed and exercised
any rights (other than any rights in connection with the use of
a passport) available to him under the law of any country outside
Singapore being rights accorded exclusively to the citizens or nationals
of that country;
(iii)
taken any oath or made any declaration
or acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience or adherence to any foreign
power or state; or
(iv)
applied to the authorities of a place
outside Singapore for the issue or renewal of a passport or used
a passport issued by such authorities as a travel document;
(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)
Deleted by Act 14/2008, wef 03/03/2009.
(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]
(3)
For
the purposes of subsection (1)(a)(ii), the exercise
of a vote in —
(a)
any national, state or provincial
election; or
(b)
any election for the local government
of any metropolitan or urban area,
in a country outside Singapore (but
not an election under this Act or a presidential election) shall
be deemed to be the voluntary claim and exercise of a right available under
the law of that country.
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 as an
elector;
(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 the 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.