Original Posting
In reply to Dear LPC1998 - Election of Senate by Chwee Hock
lpc1998 - 01:13pm Aug 9, 2003 SGT (783.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.3.1.1.2.3.2.1.2.1.1.1.2.2)
The Election of the Senate .. Pg 1/2
[lpc1998]:
“Presumably, this concern arises out of the “walkover” constituencies where the voters can be said to have effectively lost their right to vote because it is not contested.[Chwee Hock]:In the NPS, the elections for both the Presidency and the Senate are direct and national (meaning for qualified citizens everywhere including overseas Singaporeans) having abolished the existing constituency-based elections so the problem of “walkover” constituencies would cease to exist and so is Concern 1.”
“Dear LPC1998 - Election of SenateFirst of all, the NPS envisages a total of 100 Senators:Questions:
How diligent you think the voters will be, in filtering, say 2000 candidates to choose 50 for the senate? Won't it be a practical problem?
If the election are held in different dates and the election days are public holidays, won't we have too many public holidays?
If they are elected in groups (like the GRC way), how are you going to eliminate the "Free-riders" problem? ”
“The first 100 candidates with the highest number of votes in a Senatorial election shall be the Senators-elect. The Senators are to be elected nationally instead of constituently so as to avoid group interest representation.”The candidate with the greatest number of 1st choice votes shall be elected as 1st Senator. The candidate with the greatest number of 1st and 2nd choice votes shall elected as the 2nd Senator and so on until the candidate with the greatest number of 1st to 100th choice votes shall be elected as the 100th Senator.
Similar procedures shall be adopted for determining the voters’ endorsements of the candidates for the Senatorial election.
Wow! With 2,000 candidates for the Senatorial election, it would be a world record for a small country like ours. However, it would mean a tremendous success for the NPS as democratic system.
To be continued … Pg 2/2
lpc1998 - 01:25pm Aug 9, 2003 SGT (783.2.1.1.1.1.1.1.2.1.3.1.1.2.3.2.1.2.1.1.1.2.2.1)
The Election of the Senate .. Pg 2/2
You [Chwee Hock] are right that the existing paper balloting system is not suitable for the Senatorial election. However, the problem may not be so daunting for an electronic balloting system.
The following procedures may work for such a large number of candidates:
The Election Commission (EC) shall provide all qualified voters with their login and candidate endorsement passwords. Each voter can endorse more than one candidates in order of choice not exceeding 300 candidates, but only one endorsement for each candidate.On the 80th day after the election announcement (the election day), the voters shall go to the polling station to key in their votes for the candidates in order of choice for the first 100 candidates and then have their chosen list of candidates printed out and the hard copy would be deposited into a ballot box after signing on it. All such ballot boxes shall be sealed as soon as practical after the election ends and kept by the Election Commission for 6 months in case of allegation of cheating or other complaints and thereafter all the ballot papers shall be destroyed according to the law.It is the voters’ responsibility to test and ensure that the login and candidate endorsement passwords are working properly once the Election Commission announces publicly that a Senatorial election would be held soon (hereinafter referred to as “the election announcement”). Any voter who has a problem in their access to the Election Commission website, in the candidate endorsement function or who has any other problem should contact the Election Commission immediately with the view of sorting out such a problem. It is also the voters’ responsibility to ensure the confidentiality of their login and endorsement passwords.
10 days after the election announcement, all persons who are interested to be a candidate must send in their application online for the election. The Election Commission, after verifying the application of a prospective candidate, shall, on a first-come-first-serve basis for the purpose of the voters’ endorsement, post his photo together with the relevant personal particulars on its website with a hyperlink to the candidate’s website where the voters can find out more information about the candidate and his election programmes.
The Talent Development Institute (TDI) may similarly propose up to 50 candidates of its choice for the election. However, in the event that the total number of valid candidates is less than 300 as at the 40th day after the election announcement, the TDI shall propose such additional number of candidates to make up a total of 300 candidates for the election.
On the 50th day after the election announcement, the Election Commission shall finalize a list of 300 candidates who have the most voter endorsements in order of choice for the Senatorial election and have it posted on its website.
For those who are unable to key in their votes, staff from the Election Commission who are sworn to secrecy may help out confidentially in full view of the voter concerned, but the voter himself, save for exceptional circumstances, shall complete the voting process after verifying his voting choices and deposit the signed hard copy into the ballot box.
Further refinements for voters with special needs such as those who are visually handicapped can be looked into by the Election Commission where possible and feasible.
Within 90 days after the election, the Election Commission shall publish with full details the reasons for the invalidity of the unsuccessful applications to be election candidates, if there is any.
Best Regards
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