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| Nomination Day |
The nomination paper has to be signed by the candidate, proposer, seconder and at least four assentors. These names must appear on the register of electors for the constituency that the candidates will be running in.
Candidates must also pay an election deposit amounting to about eight per cent of the total allowance payable to MPs. For the coming General Election, the election deposit is set at S$16,000.
Once that is sorted out, all eyes will be on Nomination Day. This has to take place at least four days and no more than one month after the writ is issued.
For the coming General Election, Nomination Day will be on April 27.
On Nomination Day, candidates must present their nomination papers and certificates to the Returning Officer at the nomination centres between 11am and noon. They must be accompanied by their proposers, seconders and at least four assentors.
Nomination closes at noon and this is when walkover announcements and victory speeches will be made.
Concurrently, there is an objection time during which candidates can object to any nomination. This is done between 11am and 12.30pm. Objections could be on the grounds of the unsuitability of candidates or nomination papers not filled properly.
There were a number of objections during previous elections. In 1997, the Workers' Party's papers for Cheng San GRC and Hougang were challenged by the People's Action Party as the Commissioner for Oaths had stamped the statutory declaration but had not written his name in his own hand. Election officers overruled the PAP's objections.
Then in 2001, the WP team were disqualified from contesting in Aljunied GRC for failing to submit proper nomination papers. They had not filled in a blank in the five statutory declarations they had handed over to the Assistant Returning Officer. The blank was the name of the ward they wanted to contest. This objection was raised not by the PAP but by election officials.
Objection results, if any, will be announced by 1pm and campaigning starts immediately after nomination closes.
It can run from just nine days to eight weeks.
Campaigning will feature house-to-house visits by candidates and election rallies by the various parties.
For the first time, Internet election advertising will be allowed. This means parties and candidates can leverage on new media tools to engage voters and spread their message.
Another first is a one day cooling-off day before Polling Day. That is when no campaigning is allowed except for party political broadcasts. Introduced in April 2010, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said the day will give voters time to reflect rationally on issues, after the emotional high of election campaigning.
Polling Day takes place at least 10 days or at most eight weeks after Nomination Day. This includes the one-day cooling-off day.
The Singapore Constitution stated that elections must take place within three months after Parliament is dissolved. From past timelines, it was anything from two months to just 16 days.
For this year's General Election, Polling Day will be on May 7.
Sources: http://www.channelnewsasia.com
