From Eligibility to Election: The Mechanics of the Presidential Poll

Abstract

This chapter examines a number of issues relating to the mechanics of how presidential elections are conducted: specifically, the process for obtaining certificates of eligibility and community certificates, and the reviewability of decisions of the Presidential Elections Committee, the Community Committee, and the latter’s Sub-Committees. In addition, certain elements of the campaigning process are looked at – how candidates can conduct their campaigns, limitations on what candidates and voters can communicate electronically on cooling-off day and polling day, and whether Ministers and Members of Parliament should be allowed to endorse or criticize candidates. It is hard to escape the sense that underlying the various rules is the belief that voters cannot be trusted to properly assess whether candidates merit being elected to the nation’s highest office. It should be asked whether this fundamentally underestimates the electorate’s powers of discernment.

Keywords: constitutional law, election law, president, Singapore

JEL Classification: H11, K19