UK Election vs Singapore General Election...!!!

Sithamparapzillai Kathieravelu

UK Election vs Singapore General Election

I was listening to BBC sometime last week and was surprised that the newscaster announced that the UK election will be held in 2010 (I had forgotten if they mentioned any specific date). However with the advance of then Internet, I google the UK election 2010 and great wealth of related links appeared.

What makes me feel that the British, are more open about the election date as it can be found in their official website of the Electoral Commission.

UK Electoral Commision
A look at the "About Us" said a lot about the function of the Electoral Commission:

"We are an independent body set up by the UK Parliament. Our aim is integrity and public confidence in the democratic process.

We work to:

* register political parties
* make sure people understand and follow the rules on party and election finance
* publish details of where parties and candidates get money from and how they spend it
* set the standards for running elections and report on how well this is done
* make sure people understand it is important to register to vote, and know how to vote
* make sure boundary arrangements for local government in England are fair"
(Source: http://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/about-us)

UK citizens living abroad can also vote via Post or Via Proxy! This sort of method of election is seem unthinkable in Singapore :)

The UK Electoral Commision even publish the latest possible date "Thursday 3 June 2010" in its website. I clicked on the 2 PDF documents in the page, Parliamentary election timetables & Election timetables in the United Kingdom, it will tell the reader how the election commision come about setting of the election and the processes if the PM calls for elections.

The Election Commision will give -27 Day prior to polling day. The various political Parties in UK have 27 days to prepare. (Election timetables in the United Kingdom - Report and recommendations Pg 5)

The UK Electoral Commision also publish its annual report in its website and can be found here.

Singapore Election Department
I looked at OUR Election Department and saw this:

"The Elections Department of Singapore (ELD) is a department under the Prime Minister’s Office. It has the responsibility of planning and preparing for, and managing the conduct of Presidential and Parliamentary elections and of any national referendum in Singapore. The Department has under its purview the Registry of Political Donations (RPD). The RPD administers the Political Donations Act, the objective of which is to prevent foreign interference in the domestic politics of Singapore through funding."

Fair and Square? I do not think so!

They do not generate an Annual Report compared to that of UK. It will not be necessary since its under the PMO's control. Any reports will be the PM's eyes only right? I am not sure how the 66.6% look in the report in 2006, typeface 1?
Posted by Phare Anderson at 7:19 AM
Labels: Election
8 comments:

Anonymous said...
What is even worst, when the election department is under a PM who together with his stooges of echelons and PaPA, blatantly fix opp party and buying supporters' vote. That is a obvious corruption itself.
November 20, 2009 9:13 PM

Phare Anderson said...
The problem is, we cannot say PAP is corrupt or else they will sue us to bankrup! They merely using the excess from the budget to "return" them to the Singaporeans.

That is the PAP style of money politics....
November 21, 2009 1:07 AM

Sylvester Lim said...
An excellent posting on the British Elections. More Singaporeans need to open their eyes & minds and read more. This country can be a great place to work & live if not for the straight jacked ruling party.
November 21, 2009 5:59 AM

Anonymous said...
Nothing we can do, we have 66% of the population who wants them in, even at the expense that Singaporeans are going to become a minority.
November 21, 2009 9:37 PM

Anonymous said...
Maybe UNO should poke into every nation organisation structure, manning etc to see whether there is a need for national democratic governance compliances. AND LET THIS BE PUBLISHED GLOBALLY FOR ALL TO ASSESS.
November 22, 2009 2:25 AM

Anonymous said...
Maybe if non compliances are the case then the PM and PAP Ministers should go for a 10 month jail and fined $10,000 in line with what Ren Ci the Monk gets for his charitable works.
November 22, 2009 2:26 AM

Chee Wai Lee said...
Did you guys know that if we were resident in the UK (eg. as a student, etc ...), then as Commonwealth citizens, we have a right to vote in UK local, UK national and EU elections?

These people care more about the tenets of democracy (that, as someone who participates in society, we have a role in guiding public policy) than they do about "foreign interference in domestic politics".
November 22, 2009 8:54 AM

Phare Anderson said...
Dear Chee Wai Lee,

The problem with Singapore is that our dear PAP government had taken this fundamental rights which is to be part of the democratic process to decide the future of Singapore.

Any votes that are not for PAP are considered FREAK RESULTS! This is not quoted by me, by by our Dear Leader's father MM Lee KY.

Thanks for sharing about their ways of being a true democracy!
November 22, 2009 9:07 AM