Following the announcement of the election date, Singaporeans have come to Twitter to discuss political issues, as well as the topics and the candidates that matter to them.
Many are using hashtags such as #GE2020 and #SingaporeVotes to share their perspectives on political parties’ manifestos and also the candidates who will be running in the upcoming General Election this Friday (10 July).
Fostering civic participation with the Singapore election emoji
Twitter recently launched a customised emoji to amplify and empower ongoing General Election conversations on its platform.
Reflecting Singapore’s national colours of red and white, the emoji features the national flag and the ballot box.
Users can tweet with these hashtags to activate the special edition emoji: #SingaporeElection #SGElection #SingaporeVotes #SGvotes #GE2020.
https://twitter.com/TwitterSG/status/1276392707968004096?s=20
Get up to speed on key election issues and topics
More and more Singaporeans are coming to Twitter and tweeting more about #politics.
Many Singaporeans are following political parties, candidates, and experts. They are also joining the election conversations to share their perspectives on the platform.
Here’s a list of the most tweeted about political parties between 23 June to 3 July:
Here’s a list of the most tweeted about politicians between 23 June to 3 July:
There are also conversations around the unique political histories of the Group Representation Constituencies (GRCs) and threads with must-know facts about the Singapore Parliament and election processes.
https://twitter.com/eisen/status/1277068547479359488
Making a sound, decisive vote requires us to get informed first; that starts with learning about the Parliament of Singapore, and thus, what’s at stake — Illo by Anngee has illustrated a great summary.
Flash flood your timelines with this thread, please! #GE2020 pic.twitter.com/dQgBki5wC2
— Zaihan is me/he/they (@zaihanisme) June 23, 2020
On Twitter, everything from news of political party mainstays passing the reins, to exciting new updates from the election’s fresh and young faces, has broken here first.
PAP’s Lee Bee Wah retiring from politics after 14 years, will not be contesting in GE2020 https://t.co/ZfdxU234Hb
— The Online Citizen Asia (@theon9citizen) June 29, 2020
Singapore GE2020: Profiles of Singapore Democratic Party's new candidates https://t.co/EvuYxuaw1F
— The Straits Times (@straits_times) June 30, 2020
Civic and civil society is also coming to life with unique conversations during the election. Non-profit organisations in Singapore have come to Twitter to raise awareness about some of the social issues within the community.
Gender-equality advocacy group, the Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE), put out a series of 6 polls to test people’s knowledge of, and share information about, gender equality issues in Singapore.
AWARE is also asking people to pledge to urge Singaporean politicians and policy makers to look into these issues, including closing the gender wage gap and increasing attention and redress to reduce violence against women in Singapore.
Last week we released AWARE's #GenderManifesto, covering a wide range of gender issues that continue to hold Singapore back. What issues are on your personal gender manifesto? From below, pick the one you feel most strongly about, and share it in the run-up to #GE2020!
— AWARE Singapore (@awarenews) June 29, 2020
The Singapore Climate Rally (SGCR) has also called for people on Twitter to take a closer look at political parties’ individual approaches to combating environmental issues.
The Singapore Climate Rally, a youth-led movement pushing for climate justice, released a climate scorecard ranking parties’ manifestos to see how they are tackling the climate crisis. SGCR has also used Twitter to call on people to join the Neighbourhood Greenwatch, which allows voters of the same constituency to push their political candidates to take on climate commitments.
GREENWATCH CLIMATE SCORECARD@yourSDP and @wpsg appear more ambitious than @PAPSingapore in their climate commitments, but they similarly fell short of having a clear vision for a post-fossil fuel Singapore.
SDP: +16
WP: +14
PAP: +8
(scale of -90 to +90)https://t.co/7nTyPyaK94— SG Climate Rally (@sgclimaterally) June 29, 2020
Everyone loves a #BlastfromthePast with some fun
Every election cycle needs moments of levity, too. Whether it’s enjoying highlights from elections past, or creating fun new games for everyone following #GE2020 to play, people are sharing it all on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/ikansumbat/status/1275372560281030656?s=20
https://twitter.com/joanofradius/status/1276543680954789889?s=20
If you’re an active Twitter user, do check out this special list curated by @TwitterSG featuring political parties, candidates, commentators, researchers, NGO partners, and media observing the upcoming Genera Election.
