Louis Ng on presidential and parliamentary elections amendment bills

The amendments in the two bills will facilitate access to voting, improve transparency in election advertising and strengthen election processes, said MP Louis Ng. Speaking in Parliament on Monday (Mar 6), he sought clarification on three aspects of the bills. One relates to the election advertising requirements. He noted that the definition of published content will be amended to include forwarding and sharing. Mr Ng said given the ease of forwarding and sharing content on the Internet, it is not difficult to breach this provision. He asked the minister to clarify whether it will be a defence for the accused to prove that he or she did not know that the content included election advertising. Mr Ng said while the public should share information online responsibly, there is also a difference in culpability between a layperson who carelessly forwards messages and links to a friend and a political operator looking to influence the actions of others. Turning to the special arrangements at nursing homes, he wanted to know what safeguards are in place to ensure that the people in charge exercise their powers responsibly when determining who can exercise the right to vote.