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Source:
www.mha.gov.sg |
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SPEECH BY MR WONG KAN SENG,
MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS, AT THE SECOND READING OF THE PARLIAMENTARY
ELECTIONS (AMENDMENT) BILL 2005 ON MONDAY, 16 MAY 2005 |
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Mr Speaker, Sir, I beg to move, ¡®That the Bill be
now read a second time¡¯. |
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Introduction |
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Sir, after the General Election (GE) in 2001, the
Prime Minister set up a Review Committee to study how the election processes
can be streamlined and simplified and how the conduct of elections can be
improved, for both candidates and voters. |
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The Review Committee was chaired by the Permanent
Secretary (Prime Minister¡¯s Office), Mr Eddie Teo and comprised senior
election officials who were involved in the conduct of past GEs. |
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The Committee made a number of recommendations,
many of which have been adopted. Members may recall reading about public
officers undergoing election training. This is one of the Review Committee¡¯s
recommendations which was implemented by the Elections Department as it did
not require a legislative change. |
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The amendments contained in this Bill, and in the
Presidential Elections (Amendment) Bill that will be read a second time after
this, are introduced to implement those recommendations that require
legislative changes. |
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Sir, there are 3 main groups of amendments in this
Bill. Firstly, there are the amendments which focus on nomination processes.
These are meant to reduce the present complexity in nomination procedures but
still ensure responsible candidature to stand for parliamentary elections. |
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The Bill tries to improve accessibility to
standing for election to Parliament by reducing or mitigating the existing
risk of aspiring candidates failing to be nominated on account of
technicalities and errors. We are also taking the opportunity to clarify
certain provisions to ensure greater certainty in operation. |
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The second group of amendments relate to
post-election processes, namely, post-election reporting of election
expenditure. |
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The third and last group consists of miscellaneous
amendments ranging from abolishing obsolete fees connected with voter
registration to conferring powers of composition on the Returning Officer or
officials in Elections Department. |
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I will cover each one of them in turn. |
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Nomination Procedures |
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Sir, the purpose of any parliamentary elections is
to enable the electorate to cast votes to select representatives to Parliament
from the various candidates who come forward. |
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However, the best and most suitable individual
cannot be elected if he or she does not successfully complete the nomination
process. The process by which a person is nominated is therefore as important
as the final act of casting a vote. |
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While our nomination process must continue to
ensure that only responsible and serious candidates can gain access, the
process can afford to be simplified to reduce the risk of aspiring individuals
failing to be nominated due to formal errors or non-compliance with
procedures. Deserving candidates should not be disqualified from standing
because of minor technicalities. |
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Our nomination proceedings today centre heavily on
4 sets of documents : the nomination paper, a Statutory Declaration as to
qualifications, a political donations certificate and the relevant Certificate
for a GRC. |
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These documents have to be submitted to the
Returning Officer, in a certain manner following certain formalities and
within the prescribed time. Nominees or candidates with incomplete or
incorrect documents may find their nomination rejected or objected to
successfully by their opponents. |
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In practice, the most common errors in nomination
papers are wrong or incorrect register numbers of the proposer, seconder or
the assentors (not fewer than 4). |
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To reduce the risk of such errors invalidating
nominations, the Government has decided to remove the requirement for register
numbers in the nomination paper. |
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The nominee and his proposer, seconder and
assentors may be identified in the nomination paper by their NRIC numbers. You
can see this change in clauses 5 and 6 of the Bill as they amend sections 27
and 27B, respectively. The form of the nomination paper will be revised after
this Bill is enacted. The new form will also have space for up to 8 assentors,
instead of the 6.
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Nominees can therefore help themselves by
obtaining a higher number of signatories just in case some of them are
invalidated on account of errors. This will allow nominees a margin of error
of up to 4 (an increase by 2). However, these changes do not do away with the
current legal requirement that every nominee must secure constituent support
for his nomination. |
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The proposer, seconder and assentors must all
still be electors registered in the constituency for which the nominee is
seeking election. To facilitate the checking of the electoral status of these
signatories in nomination papers filed by their opponents, the Returning
Officer will make available personal computer (PC) facilities loaded with the
database of the registers of electors at every Nomination Centre for their
use. |
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Next, clauses 5 and 6 amend sections 27 and 27B by
merging the nomination paper with the statutory declaration as to
qualifications to stand for election. This will reduce the number of papers to
be filed with the Returning Officer on nomination day. |
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Sir, the manner in which nomination papers are to
be delivered to the Returning Officer is also changed. Clause 7 amends section
29 to require nominees to be present at the nomination centre in person and
accompanied by their proposer, seconder and at least 4 of their assentors. |
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Besides facilitating corrections of any
particulars in the nomination paper, this requirement will also prevent any
insertion of particulars or forging of signatures of any registered elector in
nomination papers without the elector¡¯s knowledge. |
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As our present law already requires nominations to
be made by the nominees in person, and accompanied by their proposer and
seconder, it should not be difficult for the nominees to comply with the
additional requirement of having their assentors to be present during
nomination. |
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Currently, there is little room under present law
for some minor errors in nomination papers. Defects in a nomination paper that
are potentially rectifiable can be overlooked since they will not invalidate
the nomination. |
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Hence, inaccurate names or misnomers, inaccurate
descriptions of persons, or inaccurate descriptions of places can be
overlooked where despite these inaccuracies or mistakes, the person or place
is still identifiable. That is the position under section 103 today. |
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However, blanks and errors in numbers are fatal
errors. That is, these cannot be rectified and a nomination paper with any
such defect has to be rejected or may be successfully objected to. |
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More..... |
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Source:
Ministry of Home Affairs Press Release 16
May 2005 |
Parliamentary Elections (Amendment) Bill 2005
