The Singapore People’s Party (SPP) candidate for Bishan Toa-Payoh GRC Williamson Lee revealed that the posters of People’s Action Party (PAP) were being put up without stickers issued by Election Department (ELD), which appears to be violation of election rules.
In a Facebook post on Wednesday (1 July), Mr Lee who is also the Party’s vice-chairman described that many PAP’s posters were already put up when the SPP’s team rolled out the lorries.
“But that in itself is nothing new. It is trite that the PAP is well resourced and we are a small but strong team,” he commented.
He then pointed out that after his team finished their outreach activities at their contesting constituency, they have discovered many of the posters put up by the PAP did not have the ELD sticker.
According to Mr Lee, all the posters and banners that are being put up must be accompanied with a sticker that is issued by ELD and can only be collected after nomination.
The purpose of the sticker, he said is to limit the number of posters and banners one can put up with the intention of trying and leveling the playing field.
“If one is allowed to put up banners without stickers, then of course they can ‘flood’ the GRC with an seemingly unlimited number of posters,” he added.
The Party’s vice-chairman also revealed that PAP has failed to comply with the new rules which required them to put their posters at a height of at least 2.2 metre.
“We have seen many instances where the PAP has failed to comply with the requirement to put posters at a height of at least 2.2 m (a new requirement this GE) – however, this is an understandable error as we can’t be expected to measure the height of every placement and some [estimation] is inevitable,” he noted.
He continues, “However, for posters to be put up without stickers – this is a breach of the regulations that serve to level the playing field.”
Mr Lee said that he has emailed the ELD regarding this issue and encouraged Singaporeans to report to ELD if they come across any posters that breaches election regulations.
He ended his post saying, “The odds have always been stacked against us, that is nothing new. As we have always done, we will continue to fight the odds and strive for A Better Tomorrow.”
Meanwhile the Party’s member Khan Osman Sulaiman also brought up this issue on his Facebook post today.
Mr Osman stressed that the alternative parties will need some time to put up their posters during every election time as compared with PAP, their posters “are always quick off the ground”.
“No difference to this time round of the election. I saw that the PAP posters are already up once nomination closed. How is that possible? Lightning-quick manpower,” he wrote.
Mr Osman went on to say, “But upon closer inspection, these posters have no ELD stickers on it which is a violation of election rules. That explains why the PAP has been able to put up their posters quickly.”,
He added that this was what happened at Bishan Toa Payoh and they have informed the elections department.