Earlier last week, the Elections Department Singapore (ELD) outlined a series of measures that election candidates and parties must follow if the elections were held during Phase 2.
Some of these include the introduction of e-rallies and Constituency Political Broadcasts (CPB).
On Wednesday (24 Jun), more details were released regarding these new campaigning procedures, as well as other guidelines.
According to Channel NewsAsia (CNA), the new Constituency Political Broadcasts, which are a new ‘feature’ this election, will air from 3-7 Jul.
This means there won’t be any CPB for the first 3 days of the nomination period. Here’s a reminder of how the GE2020 timeline will look:
The pre-recorded broadcasts will be shown on Channel 5 from 7pm so you can probably listen to the candidates’ speeches while having your dinner.
As previously reported, each candidate will be given 3 minutes of airtime for their CPBs.
This is split into:
Political parties with 6 or more candidates will qualify for Party Political Broadcasts (PPB), reports CNA.
These broadcasts will be shown on 19 TV and radio channels on 2 Jul and 9 Jul — the latter happens to be Cooling-Off Day.
ELD has also provided more details on the venues where candidates can conduct their live-streaming from.
According to CNA, 10 of such venues will be made available from 1-8 Jul at the following timings:
Each time slot costs $107, which comes to around $36/hour.
It is not compulsory for candidates and parties to hold rallies in these venues, as stated by ELD previously.
To prevent the potential spread of the coronavirus, ELD also reminded election candidates to practise safe distancing when conducting physical campaigning.
In its most recent advisory, ELD told candidates not to perform fist bumps and high-fives with supporters. They should also keep such interactions “short“.
Source
In the event where members of the public are seen flouting safe-distancing measures, political candidates and parties are urged to “disengage and leave the area”.
Candidates should also have their masks on at all times, even when taking photos.
This should also be the case during recorded interviews and broadcasts if safe distancing is “difficult to maintain”.
They are, however, allowed to remove their masks if they are speaking at venues where safe distancing measures are in place and if they can keep a 1-metre distance from other individuals.
As Covid-19 remains a threat in our country, Singaporeans should definitely not let their guards down, even during GE2020.
Even though we won’t be able to attend physical rallies this year, virtual ones ain’t all that bad too — at least we’ll be able to watch them from the comfort of our homes.
Hopefully, the virus will be gone by the following GE, so Singaporeans can go about their conventional election tings once again.
Featured image adapted from Facebook.
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