SINGAPORE INCREASES ELECTION EXPENSES LIMIT FOR CANDIDATES AHEAD OF GENERAL ELECTION

By Nur Ashikin Abdul Aziz

SINGAPORE, March 27 (Bernama) -- Singapore has increased the spending limit for candidates' parliamentary election expenses to S$5 (S$1=RM3.30) per elector ahead of the upcoming general election to account for inflation, the Elections Department (ELD) said.

Currently, the limit is S$4 per elector registered in the electoral division that a candidate is contesting. The last time this was revised was in 2015.

“The law imposes a ceiling on the amount that a candidate contesting the election can spend. This is to ensure a level playing field and to prevent ‘money politics’. Spending in excess of the maximum amount set by law is an illegal practice,” ELD said in a statement on Thursday.

Meanwhile, if a candidate is contesting as part of a group of candidates nominated for an election in a Group Representation Constituency (GRC), the maximum spending limit is S$5 per elector, divided by the number of candidates in the group nominated for that election.

Election expenses refer to expenses incurred before, during, or after the election on account of, or in respect to the conduct or management of the election of the candidate. They do not include a candidate’s expenditure for personal expenses or any fee paid to the election agent not exceeding S$500.

Over 2.75 million will be eligible to vote in the next general elections that must be held by November this year. 

-- BERNAMA