GE2015: Effects of overseas votes on results 'minimal'
The overseas votes for the General Election 2015 are being prepared for counting as Workers' Party candidates observed at the ELD Training Centre on 15 Sep 2015. Photo: Ooi Boon Keong/TODAY
SINGAPORE — A total of 3,415 overseas electors out of the 4,868 registered cast their vote for the General Election, it has been announced. After these were counted today (Sept 15), the final vote share in some constituencies changed only minimally.
For example, the Workers’ Party’s margin of victory in Aljunied GRC, which saw the closest contest, increased by 0.01 percentage point to 50.96 per cent, while the party’s winning margin in Hougang decreased by 0.03 percentage point to 57.66 per cent.
Including overseas votes, which were counted at the Elections Department’s training centre, the total number of votes cast was 2,307,746, or 93.7 per cent of registered electors.
There are 10 overseas polling stations — in Dubai, London, Tokyo, Beijing, Washington DC, Hong Kong, Shanghai, San Francisco, New York and Canberra.
In response to TODAY’s queries about expanding overseas voting, an Elections Department spokesperson said: “We regularly review and enhance our electoral processes, and will continue exploring ways to facilitate the participation of more overseas Singaporeans in elections.”
As of last year, there were 212,000 overseas Singaporeans, though not all would have been eligible to vote.
Singapore Management University law don Eugene Tan SAID that while it would be good to increase the number of polling stations, logistics may be a factor. For example, he cited the investment needed to have ballot papers and proper ballot boxes sent overseas and back. The authorities could look at postal or electronic voting in future, he added, while cautioning about the need to maintain the integrity of the vote.
National University of Singapore (NUS) sociologist Tan Ern Ser agreed: “There’s a need to ensure that the one voting is the eligible voter himself or herself.” Still, he noted that postal voting would be more practical for reaching more overseas Singaporeans.
CHANGES IN PERCENTAGES
The Workers’ Party (WP) saw its margin of victory in Aljunied increase 0.01 percentage point from 50.95 per cent to 50.96 per cent.
For the People’s Action Party (PAP), vote shares for Ang Mo Kio GRC, Bukit Batok SMC, Chua Chu Kang GRC, Fengshan SMC, Jalan Besar GRC, Jurong GRC, Mountbatten SMC, Punggol East SMC, Sengkang West SMC, Tampines GRC and Yuhua SMC saw marginal increases.
- In Ang Mo Kio GRC, vote share went up by a 0.01 percentage point to 78.64 per cent.
- Bukit Batok SMC saw a 0.03 percentage point increase for the PAP to 73.02 per cent.
- The PAP’s margin of victory in Chua Chu Kang GRC went up by 0.02 percentage points to 76.91 per cent.
- In Jalan Besar GRC, the PAP increased its margin of victory by 0.02 percentage points to 67.75 per cent.
- The PAP team in Jurong GRC, which saw the largest margin of victory in GE2015, also saw an increase of 0.01 percentage points to 79.29 per cent.
- In Mountbatten SMC, the PAP increased its margin of victory by 0.02 percentage points to 71.86 per cent.
- In the hotly contested seat of Punggol East SMC, Mr Charles Chong of the PAP saw a 0.01 percentage point increase in his vote share to 51.77 per cent.
- The PAP also extended its margin of victory in Sengkang West SMC by 0.02 percentage points to 62.13 per cent.
- There was a 0.01 percentage point increase for the PAP team in Tampines GRC to 72.07 per cent.
- Ms Grace Fu, the MP-elect for Yuhua SMC, also saw her vote share increase by 0.01 percentage points to 73.55 per cent.
- Workers’ Party’s Png Eng Huat’s margin of victory in Hougang SMC went down by 0.03 percentage points to 57.66 per cent
- Mr Cedric Foo saw his vote share in Pioneer SMC go up by 0.01 percentage points to 76.35 per cent.
The contituencies that saw slight dips in vote shares for the PAP include Holland-Bukit Timah, MacPherson and Potong Pasir, Fengshan.
- In Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, the PAP's vote share went down by 0.02 percentage points to 66.60 per cent.
- In MacPherson SMC, Ms Tin Pei Ling saw her overall vote share go down by 0.02 percentage points to 65.60 per cent.
- Mr Sitoh Yih Pin in Potong Pasir SMC also saw his vote share go down from 66.41 per cent to 66.39 per cent.
- In Fengshan SMC, there was a 0.02 percentage point dip for PAP MP-elect Cheryl Chan, who still secured 57.50 per cent of the votes.
There were no changes in the other constitutencies.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article had reported that Mr Cedric Foo's vote share in Pioneer SMC had gone down by 0.01 per cent after the overseas votes were counted. This is incorrect. Mr Foo's vote share had gone up by 0.01 per cent. We apologise for the error.
