Delaying GE may pose a constitutional problem, but it ‘does not infect people with Covid-19’: Tan Cheng Bock

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SINGAPORE — Progress Singapore Party leader Tan Cheng Bock on Saturday (March 28) reiterated his call for the Government not to hold the General Election (GE) during the Covid-19 pandemic. He added that even if polls cannot take place by the deadline of April 2021, it is a potential constitutional problem that “does not infect people” or “take away the life of loved ones”. 

“If the Government chooses to call an early GE, they will expose over 2.6 million Singaporeans to Covid 19 which will run the risk of creating a health crisis,” he said in a video message posted on the opposition party’s Facebook page.

“So here is the choice: Hold an early election and cause a far worse health crisis. Or delay the GE to 2021 and face a possible constitutional problem if no GE can be held by April 2021?”

In the Facebook post, Dr Tan also attached a list of countries and cities which he said have postponed elections due to Covid-19. The list, taken from Swedish-based International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, includes countries such as the United States, Iran, Austria, among others.

Dr Tan was responding to Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean’s comments made in Parliament on Wednesday that it would be unconstitutional for the Government to hold a GE after the deadline of April 2021 unless a state of emergency is declared.

Mr Teo had added that while President Halimah Yacob can make such a declaration when advised by the Cabinet, this was not a precedent that should be set lightly.

Dr Tan had on March 14 pressed for the next GE to be held after the crisis is over, and suggested that if the pandemic is still around when polls are due by April 2021, President Halimah can form a caretaker government consisting of some of the current Members of Parliament.

Mr Teo had said in Parliament that such suggestions are “misleading and unhelpful”.

On Saturday, Dr Tan said that Mr Teo may have missed his main point, which is whether to call an early GE in 2020, or to wait until the last possible date in 2021.

Dr Tan added that delaying the election until the health crisis has improved “is a realistic hope and not a fanciful wish”, noting that vaccines are being tested and Singapore is “doubling down on social containment measures” which will get even more effective.

“We remain hopeful that we will not see a rise in imported cases after the recent few waves. The whole world has stepped up their Covid-19 fighting measures. China is a good example of an improving situation. So, there is cause for hope in time,” he said.

“I think Singapore deserves to be given the fighting chance to wait out this season without having to worry about a potentially hazardous early GE.”

Should his prediction be wrong and the pandemic worsens such that the GE cannot be held by April 2021, there are laws to cover an emergency situation such as the Emergency (Essential Powers) Act, Dr Tan said.

He referred to Section 2 of the Act as stating that “the President may make any regulations (referred to in this Act as essential regulations) which he considers desirable or expedient for securing the public safety, the defence of Singapore, the maintenance of public order and of supplies and services essential to the life of the community.”

Dr Tan added: “The risk here is but a legal constitutional problem as to whether a caretaker government can be formed. However, a constitutional problem does not infect people with Covid-19. A constitutional problem will not take away the life of loved ones. A constitutional problem can be overcome.”   

He repeated that with lives at stake, Singapore must put all its energies and resources to fight Covid-19.

“The GE can wait... My message to the Government is very clear: Concentrate on doing your job well for the next 12 months. And let’s keep everybody safe,” he said. 

“I do not make this suggestion lightly. But since we are looking at a potential life-and-death situation, let us make the right decision and choose life over politics.”

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had said on Friday that he “would not rule any possibility out” regarding the timing of the next GE.

Mr Lee said that it would be “a very difficult decision because we are going into a very big storm and you want to have the strongest team and mandate, and the longest runway so that Singapore can have the best leadership to see it through this storm”.

“That is a very desirable and an essential requirement for us to see through this together. If we were sure that the thing could settle within the next six months, I think we can say well, let us wait for six months, let things calm down, then we carry on," he told the media in an interview on the Covid-19 crisis and the Resilience Budget.

“But nobody can say. I expect that it can easily get worse before it gets better.”

Mr Lee added that while some countries have postponed their polls, most have carried on, so the problems of holding a GE during the crisis are “to a large extent, solvable”.