ELD marks 70 years of ensuring fair elections

[Playtime]

Really..... not sure whats the purpose of the article...

 

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ELD marks 70 years of ensuring fair elections

Changes made to step up training, improve coordination even as it handles queries

http://www.straitstimes.com/singapor...fair-elections

When votes were being counted at the 1997 General Election, officials found something extra in a ballot box - a pad of unused ballot papers.

"The opposition said: 'What are you trying to do?'" recalled Mr Tan Boon Huat, 66, who was Returning Officer for that election and oversaw the conduct of the election.

"But, it was accounted for... (the ballot papers) were empty, and it was because of the carelessness of the person who left it (and) sealed the box... I knew for sure that it was a human error, not a deliberate attempt at any voting fraud."

Reflecting on what caused the incident, he added: "I think it was a lack of training."

As the Elections Department (ELD) celebrates its 70th anniversary this year, Mr Tan and former Returning Officer Yam Ah Mee, 60, former ELD head Lee Seng Lup, 68, and current ELD head Koh Siong Ling, 53, spoke to The Straits Times and Lianhe Zaobao about changes to the way the ELD conducts polls. They answered questions on the ELD, including whether it should report to the prime minister.

Steps were taken to ensure better training after the incident of the unused ballots. Before, training was done on a just-in-time basis, after the Writ of Elec tion was issued.

"The election staff got very quick, intensive, one or two briefings... We had all kinds of problems," said Mr Tan. For example, team members did not know one another well.

Today, training is stepped up two to three years before the next election is due, said Mr Tan.

Another improvement: While election officials used to be sent to polling stations near their homes, this changed after 2001, said Mr Lee, who headed the ELD from 2002 to last year. Senior officials are now grouped according to ministry. This improves coordination.

The running of elections is not free from controversy. In 2001, a Workers' Party (WP) team contesting Aljunied GRC was disqualified for failing to write down which constituency they were standing in.

"Why be so particular about the nitty-gritty?" WP chief Low Thia Khiang said at the time, noting that when the WP had technical problems in 1997, it was allowed to stand.

Some errors may be "non-fatal", such as minor misspellings of candidates' names, said Mr Tan, the Returning Officer from 1996 to 2010. But the 2001 case was a "fatal error".

"Our job is not to disqualify people but, in this case, unfortunately, they disqualified themselves," he said.

Papers must be filled in without blanks, witnessed by a Commissioner for Oaths. Otherwise, it must be filled in again, with a new commissioner stamp, he said. After 2001, the ELD stationed commissioners at all nomination centres.

Once an election ends, planning for the next one begins.

This involves analysing each constituency's demographics to help the ELD decide on resources - such as wheelchairs - that each polling station may need, said Mr Yam.

When the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee is convened months before a general election, the ELD, which supports the committee, does the committee's legwork, Mr Lee said. The ELD head is also a member of the committee.

The ELD prepares data for the committee, including the growth of the electorate and the movement of voters. Considerations in redrawing boundaries include population shifts - guided by terms of reference set out by the prime minister.

Yet, the disappearance of some high-profile constituencies - but not others - has led to questions about how decisions are made.

For example, one ward - Potong Pasir - remained intact despite its electorate size falling below the minimum in both 2001 and 2006.

When asked, Mr Lee said a factor is "not to disturb the voters too much", and only when necessary. He declined to disclose more.

"Whatever you do... cynics will cast doubt," he added.

Asked if having the ELD report to Parliament or an independent commission would reinforce its neutrality - a call some have made - Mr Lee said: "What's most important is, you must have the trust of the people."

"You must be seen as impartial," he said, adding that trust also boils down to the civil service's integrity.

Being under the Prime Minister's Office gives the ELD "clout" to get support from other ministries, he added, noting: "We can mobilise resources of the public service to help run elections."

Mr Yam added that decisions by civil servants have to be justified, and can be challenged in court if anyone thinks they are unfair.

Looking ahead, Mr Tan believes that the ELD can engage the public more on social media to "demystify" elections, and dispel misconceptions about the system.

Mr Koh added: "One challenge we face is demographics. On one hand, we have a very young and demanding electorate... If you are used to being able to do many things on mobile devices, how can our services be on your level? On the other hand, we have an ageing population... something we have already started but will continue to look at, is providing barrier-free access (to polling stations)."

 

[kdash]

nothing much to report so find something ba... good to hear from our favourite Returning Officer again

[Kb27]

Fair elections,

yeah right, stop your gerrymandering first.

[13177]

Own self praise own self again? 

[Playtime]

for those to young to remember.

 

basically:

Section 82 (1)(e) provides that -
"No person shall loiter in any street or public place within a radius of 200 metres of any polling station on polling day."

 

but some people were caught INSIDE the polling station... end up... no blame culture.

 

 

 

 

 http://www.singapore-window.org/ag0721.htm


Unauthorised persons inside polling stations: Attorney General's letter Text of a letter from Singapore's attorney general to law minister S. Jayakumar on the presence of unauthorised persons inside polling stations. The minister summarised the attorney general's opinion when he replied to a query in parliament from non-constituency MP and Workers' Party chief J. B. Jeyaretnam July 30.
The Workers' Party had complained to the police that Mr Goh Chok Tong, Dr Tony Tan and Brigadier-General (NS) Lee Hsien Loong had been inside a Cheng San GRC polling station on Polling Day.
But the Public Prosecutor recently advised the police that the PAP leaders had not broken the law.

• • 21 Jul 97
    Prof S Jayakumar
    Minister for Law
    PRESENCE OF UNAUTHORISED PERSONS INSIDE POLLING STATIONS
    On 14 July l997, THE Workers' Party issued a press release expressing "amazement" that the public prosecutor had advised police that no offence was disclosed in the reports made by it leaders against the prime minister, the two deputy prime ministers and Dr S Vasoo that they had been present inside polling stations when they were not candidates for the relevant constituencies. The Workers' Party queried why such conduct was not an offence under paragraph (d) or (e) of section 82(1) of the Parliamentary Elections Act.
    2. On 15 July 1997, the Singapore Democratic Party also called on the attorney general to explain his "truly befuddling" decision and to state clearly if it was an offence for unauthorised persons to enter polling stations.
    3. You have asked me for my formal opinion on the question raised in these two statements. My opinion is set out below.
    Opinion
    4. The question is whether it is an offence under the Parliamentary Elections Act for an unauthorised person to enter and be present in a polling station.
    5. For this purpose, the authorised persons are the candidates, the polling agent or agents of each candidate, the Returning Officer, and persons authorised in writing by the returning officer, the police officers on duty and other persons officially employed at the polling station; see section 39 (4) of the Act (quoted below)
    Activities Outside Polling Stations
    6. The relevant sections of the Parliamentary Elections Act to be considered are sections 82 (1)(d) and 82 (1)(e). These provisions were enacted m 1959 pursuant to the Report of the Commission of Inquiry into Corrupt, Illegal or Undesirable Practices at Elections, Cmd 7 of 1968 (hereinafter called "the Elias Report)"
    7. Section 82 (1)(d) provides that - "No person shall wait outside any polling station on polling day, except for the purpose of gaining entry to the polling station to cast his vote".
    8. Plainly, persons found waiting inside the polling stations do not come within the ambit of this section. Similarly, those who enter or have entered the polling station cannot be said to be waiting outside it. Only those who wait outside the polling station commit an offence under this section unless they are waiting to enter the polling station to cast their votes.
    9. Section 82 (1)(e) provides that -
    "No person shall loiter in any street or public place within a radius of 200 metres of any polling station on polling day."
    10. The relevant question is whether any person who is inside a polling station can be sad to be "within a radius of 200 metres of any polling station". The answer to this question will also answer any question on loitering inside a polling station.
    11. Plainly, a person inside a polling station cannot be said to be within a radius of 200 metres of a polling station. A polling station must have adequate space for the voting to be carried out. Any space has a perimeter. The words "within a radius of 200 metres" ' therefore mean "200 metres from the perimeter of" any polling station. This point is illustrated in the diagrams in the Appendix. (Editor's note: Diagrams not available).
    12. The above interpretation is fortified by the context of the provision. The polling station, as a place, is distinguished from a street or public place. It is not a street or a public place. Hence, being inside a polling station cannot amount to being in a street or in a public place. By parity of reasoning, loitering in a street or public place cannot possibly include loitering in the polling station itself and vice versa.
    13. There is no ambiguity in section 82 (1)(e). If the legislature had intended to make it an offence for unauthorised persons to wait or loiter inside a polling station, it could have easily provided for it. It did not. The mischief that section 82 (1)(e) is intended to address is found in paragraph 99 of the Elias Report. It reads:
    "In order to prevent voters being made subject to my form of undue influence or harassment at the approaches to polling stations, we recommend that it should be made an offence for any person to establish any desk or table near the entrance to any polling station, or to wait outside any polling station on polling day except for the purpose of gaining entry into the polling station to cast his vote; and that it should be an offence for any person to loiter in any street or public place within a radius of 200 yards of any polling station on polling day ."
    14 . Paragraph 99 of the Elias Report appears under the heading "Activity OUTSIDE POLLING STATIONS". The Commission of Inquiry was addressing the possibility of voters being subject to undue influence and harassment as they approach the polling stations. There is therefore no doubt whatever that this provision was never intended to cover any activity inside the polling station as there would be officials and election agents in attendance.
    15. The legislative history makes the provision so clear that it is not even necessary to consider the application of an established principle of interpretation that any ambiguity in a penal provision should, whenever possible, be resolved favour of the accused.
    Activities Inside Polling Stations
    16 Activities inside polling stations were made subject to a different regime under the Act. Section 39(4) provides that -
    "the presiding officer shall keep order in his station and shall regulate the number of voters to be admitted a time, and shall exclude all other persons except the polling agent or agents of each candidate, the Returning Officer and persons authorised in writing by the Returning Officer, the police officers on duty and other persons officially employed at the polling station."
    17. Under section 39(7), any person who misconducts himself in the polling station, or fails to obey the lawful orders of the presiding officer may be removed from the polling station by a police officer acting under the orders of the presiding officer. If an unauthorised person refuses to leave the polling station when told to do so by the public officer, he commits an offence under section 186 of the Penal Code for obstructing a public servant in the discharge of his duty.
    18. There is a consistency in the rationales of the regulatory schemes governing activities inside and those outside polling stations on election day. Waiting outside a polling station is made an offence because it gives rise to opportunities to influence or intimidate voters: see paragraph 99 of the Elias Report. Hence, the Act has provided a safety zone which stretches outwards for 200 metres from the polling station. In contrast, the possibility of a person inside a polling station influencing or intimidating voters in the presence of the presiding officer and his officials, the polling agents etc was considered so remote that it was discounted by the Act.
    19. I therefore confirm my opinion that the Parliamentary Elections Act does not provide for any offence of unauthorised entry into or presence within a polling station. Accordingly, those unauthorised persons who only wait or loiter inside a polling station on polling day do not commit any offence under the Act.
    20. You are at liberty to publish this opinion.
    
    Signed:
    Chan Sek Keong
    Attorney General.

Edited December 25, 2017 by Playtime

[DACH]

Fair elections?

 

They dare to use the word "fair" in this context? 

[Picnic06-Biante15]

Really..... not sure whats the purpose of the article...

 

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Erection or sElection coming ....