Those interested in perusing the nitty-gritty details of how much this year’s presidential candidates spent on their campaigns need not wait any longer.
The Elections Department of Singapore (ELD) made the details available online today (20 Oct).
Mr Tan Kin Lian notably spent just S$20 on online ads, with the rest of his S$71,366 expenses going to physical advertising.
Meanwhile, Mr Ng Kok Song put little into offline publicity, spending most of his over S$300,000 on online advertising.
The election winner Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam spent the most, at over S$730,000.
This year, the ELD made the presidential election candidates’ campaign expenses free to inspect online.
Curious citizens in the 2020 General Election previously had to show up in person and pay the ELD S$2 to examine them.
The reports are open for viewing from 9am today (20 Oct) to 19 Apr 2024, according to a press release.
Candidate Mr Tan Kin Lian spent S$71,366 on his campaign. Of this amount, he forked out only S$20 for online advertising.
Source: ELD
Instead, he focused his efforts on physical ads — spending S$69,478 on them.
Source: Lim Tean on Facebook
He paid S$29,912 out of that for his 5,000 posters, with an additional S$27,583.38 on the various materials, equipment, and manpower required to set them up around Singapore.
Other than posters, Mr Tan also paid for the printing of various flyers, cards, and stickers.
Image by MS News
The report additionally showed that Mr Tan received S$41,817.69 in donations.
Mr Ng Kok Song previously announced that he intended to focus his campaigning efforts on social media.
That meant a noticeable lack of posters displaying the white-haired Ah-Huat mascot-lookalike presidential candidate.
His expenses report reflected this — Mr Ng spent S$312,131 on his campaign, with S$280,800 going to online advertising.
The entire sum went to Gushcloud, a marketing and online content firm.
Gushcloud’s services for Mr Ng included social media management and analytics. They also provided copywriting services, video production, website design, and more.
Source: ELD
As for his offline ads, Mr Ng spent only S$1,059 for 4,000 brochures.
He further spent S$18,255 on transport and S$11,936 on miscellaneous expenses such as food and commissioning fees.
True to his promise to fund the entire campaign cost out of his own pocket, the report recorded no donations at all.
The election’s winner Mr Tharman spent the most on his campaign at S$738,717.
He balanced online and offline campaigns more carefully. Online content took up S$141,865 from his budget, going to social media, grassroots interviews, website hosting, and more.
Source: ELD
Mr Tharman shelled out S$481,226 on offline advertising. The costs included S$150,120 for his numerous posters and banners, as well as S$284,820.68 for the printing of brochures and postages.
Source: Lim Boon Keng on Facebook
The election frontrunner additionally received S$800,000 in donations, including S$200,000 from Mr Koh Poh Tiong, a former National Kidney Foundation chairman.
Those interested in looking at more specific invoices and receipts of each candidate can do so on the ELD website.
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Featured image adapted from huihong on Hardware Zone and Ng Kok Song on Instagram.
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