Presidential Elec 2023 Unfair scheduling of the presidential election
The presidential election is very rushed. The presidential election committee will give their decision on who are the eligible candidates on 21 August. The eligible candidates will have to submit their nomination paper on 22 August, less than a day later.

This does not allow sufficient time for the approved candidates to come to an agreement to avoid splitting the votes of their common supporters.

After the nomination, the election will be held on 1 September, 10 days later. This allows 9 days for campaigning, excluding the cooling day.

It takes time to print these materials and to put them up. Do the candidates should print the materials in advance, and may risk that they are ineligible to join the contest?

The amount to be spent on 5,000 posters and a few hundred banners could amount to $50,000, maybe more. Is it fair for a candidate to spend this money, and risk having it being totally wasted?

The risk and uncertainty could have been avoided if there is a clear period of 10 days between the release of the decision of the presidential election committee and the submission of nomination. Why should this be compressed to one day?

I will now give the order to print the materials, and take the risk that I may have to waste $50,000. This is unfair, and unnecessary.

Tan Kin Lian

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I want the voters to know about the difficulties and obstacles that an independent candidate has to faced. I hope that they will give me their support, so that these matters can be corrected in the future.

Tan KL  13 Aug 2023  

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