‘Mentally draining’: Redditor slams GE2025 campaigns, calls out election parties for handing out freebies & smear tactics

Redditor says GE2025 is becoming ‘mentally draining’, slams election parties for handing out freebies

As Singapore dives headfirst into the nine-day campaigning blitz for GE2025, political parties have been pulling out all the stops to woo voters.

Source: People’s Action Party on Facebook, for illustration purposes only

While some Singaporeans are fired up for the rallies and election buzz sweeping across the island, not everyone is feeling the hype.

One Redditor recently took to the r/askSingapore subreddit to vent their frustrations, calling this election season “mentally draining” and accusing political parties of prioritising freebies over meaningful campaigning.

Anybody feel mentally drained from this particular GE too?
byu/Big_Yesterday_5185 inaskSingapore

Redditor says GE2025 is ‘mentally draining’

Sharing their experience, the OP said that now that they are “more politically aware”, they found this year’s General Election particularly exhausting.

Source: MART PRODUCTION on Pexels, for illustration purposes only

They cited the endless flood of campaign materials on social media and criticised what they called the “low-quality” arguments coming from all sides.

Political parties, the OP stressed, should focus clearly on what they “stand for” and what voters would actually gain by supporting them.

Source: The Workers’ Party on Facebook, for illustration purposes only

“What I care about, is what you can do for the country/constituency, how you can work with us and what you value,” they wrote.

‘Stop with the smear campaigns,’ OP pleads

Beyond the noise, the Redditor also called out the constant “smear campaigns” and the distribution of freebies like ice cream, toothbrushes, and umbrellas.

“I really don’t care if the other party wants to look left and right, is not gay, or is made of blue-collared workers,” the OP said bluntly.

They argued that the focus should be on “why we SHOULD vote for YOU. Not why we SHOULD NOT vote for OTHERS [sic]”.

Source: People’s Action Party on YouTube, for illustration purposes only

In their view, truly strong political parties wouldn’t need to resort to tearing others down, nor engage in “low-level exchanges”.

Netizens divided over OP’s hot take

The post quickly sparked discussion, racking up around 271 upvotes and a slew of responses from fellow netizens.

One user argued that compared to GE2020, this year’s candidates were “carrying themselves pretty well,” noting that previous elections had seen “very low blows”.

Source: r/askSingapore on Reddit

However, others disagreed. One commenter sympathised with the OP and felt that GE2025 felt “worse” than ever, describing it as a “race to the bottom” when it came to political attacks.

Source: r/askSingapore on Reddit

Meanwhile, a younger netizen — not yet eligible to vote — shared that while attending rallies and browsing campaign materials online, they noticed that most Singaporeans seemed “apathetic or too lazy” to dig into what each party actually stood for.

Source: r/askSingapore on Reddit

“They are tryna stir entertainment and interest thru the heckling of other parties as a form of party branding,” the user added.

Also read: S’pore Redditor claims most of family and friends are politically apathetic, calls them the ‘silent majority’

S’pore Redditor claims most of family and friends are politically apathetic, calls them the ‘silent majority’

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Featured image adapted from People’s Action Party on Facebook and Sufyan Mikhail Putra on Facebook. Both images are for illustration purposes only.