Electoral Reforms in Singapore
Hi Frens,
There has been many comments on electoral reforms for Singapore and these are my 2 cents worth of comments. Please offer your comments to improve on this thread.
Before I start, my view is I do not support a proportional representation system as referred to in Western Countries or like the Israeli system. It’s a direct system where u get 5% of the vote you get 5% of the seats. Such a system is extremely divisive, gives too much influence to small minor parties.
Frankly I do not like the so called Westminister system of Government, whereby the leaders of the country are not voted directly by the People. For example in Britain, the PM is not voted by the people only the party is. However to change this system for Singapore is too long and tedious at this stage. So to keep it simple, these are my comments.
1) GRCs are to be abolish and all seats are Single seats. MPs win by their own merit, no coat tail hangers etc
2) If any seat is vacated by the MP during the term of government, By elections are to be held by law within 1 month.
3) 4 year fixed term governments. The current 5 year term is just too long, and gives too much control to the ruling party. Imagine that the next election is due by 2012 and yet everyone is speculating that the election will be held this year etc. Fixed term election dates creates certainty for the country and its people.
4) The PAP always prides itself for offering certainty for Singapore etc, so how can the current system provide certainty at all? This is a PAP flaw, I do not think that they have a logical answer to this plan of fixed term governments
5) Presidential election must be contested by an Opposition candidate. I feel that its easier for the Opposition to win the Presidential election than for a General election as there is tremendous amount of gerrymandering by the PAP when elections are held in its current form.
6) With the presidential election the whole country votes, so its strictly a peoples affair where everyone votes. So gerrymandering is no longer a component for PAP to win this race. I hope Mr Tan KL contest this as he has many supporters and he is eligible under the strict criteria for a presidential candidate.
7) Winning the Presidential election will give the opposition an oversight into the government and the president will get more media time and exposure hence giving the opposition more lime light. It will also limit the PAPs hold on government.
Any additional comments?
Hi Frens,
There has been many comments on electoral reforms for Singapore and these are my 2 cents worth of comments. Please offer your comments to improve on this thread.
Before I start, my view is I do not support a proportional representation system as referred to in Western Countries or like the Israeli system. It’s a direct system where u get 5% of the vote you get 5% of the seats. Such a system is extremely divisive, gives too much influence to small minor parties.
Frankly I do not like the so called Westminister system of Government, whereby the leaders of the country are not voted directly by the People. For example in Britain, the PM is not voted by the people only the party is. However to change this system for Singapore is too long and tedious at this stage. So to keep it simple, these are my comments.
1) GRCs are to be abolish and all seats are Single seats. MPs win by their own merit, no coat tail hangers etc
2) If any seat is vacated by the MP during the term of government, By elections are to be held by law within 1 month.
3) 4 year fixed term governments. The current 5 year term is just too long, and gives too much control to the ruling party. Imagine that the next election is due by 2012 and yet everyone is speculating that the election will be held this year etc. Fixed term election dates creates certainty for the country and its people.
4) The PAP always prides itself for offering certainty for Singapore etc, so how can the current system provide certainty at all? This is a PAP flaw, I do not think that they have a logical answer to this plan of fixed term governments
5) Presidential election must be contested by an Opposition candidate. I feel that its easier for the Opposition to win the Presidential election than for a General election as there is tremendous amount of gerrymandering by the PAP when elections are held in its current form.
6) With the presidential election the whole country votes, so its strictly a peoples affair where everyone votes. So gerrymandering is no longer a component for PAP to win this race. I hope Mr Tan KL contest this as he has many supporters and he is eligible under the strict criteria for a presidential candidate.
7) Winning the Presidential election will give the opposition an oversight into the government and the president will get more media time and exposure hence giving the opposition more lime light. It will also limit the PAPs hold on government.
Any additional comments?
