Cooling-Off Day Lets You Reflect On Who Deserves Your Vote, Can Still Talk To Others About Politics

Cooling-Off Day Falls On 9 Jul, Here’s What You Can Do

Cooling-Off Day is a day suggested by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong for voters to reflect on the past days of campaigning, so that they can make a rational and informed choice come Polling Day.

As part of the rules surrounding Cooling-Off Day, which for GE2020 falls on Thursday (9 Jul), candidates and parties won’t be allowed to do any campaigning.

However, there are some exceptions to the rules, the Elections Department (ELD) says. As these rules can be rather confusing, we explain them below.

Existing broadcasts can be shared

The rules surrounding campaigning are such that candidates & supporters can’t publish new information.

However, party political broadcasts on TV are allowed, as well as lawful Internet advertising already in place before 9 Jul.

This is provided that said material isn’t edited after 12am on 9 Jul.

You shouldn’t wear clothes bearing election images

The ELD notes that people should try not to wear clothes with the image, election symbol or campaign message of any candidate.

Your support for, say, Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam or Daddy Jamus Lim, should not extend to wearing anything that bears their image or messages.

Candidates can wear their party’s badge though.

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You can talk about your views with others

Most of us are likely to text each other about GE2020 or interact with others through social media about it.

Such interactions, conducted either in a personal capacity or in private, are allowed.

Posting content, however, might be a different story. New content cannot be published on Cooling-Off Day.

So if you want to make a new post, Instagram Story or video about GE2020 on 9 Jul, the recommendation is not to do so.

Although the exception applies to non-monetised content, the rules are admittedly a grey area.

All of the rules for Cooling-Off Day apply to Polling Day

The rules which we’ve discussed also apply to Friday (10 Jul), Polling Day.

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Of course, Polling Day is the day we go out to vote, and our minds should, in theory, be made up on Cooling-Off Day.

In other words, today (8 Jul) is the last day of campaigning and there’ll undoubtedly be a lot of scurrying to get last messages out to voters.

So, use the time to think about what’s happened over the past 9 days, and come Polling Day, you may have a clearer idea of your vote.

Featured image adapted from Youth.sg.