Residency Requirements for Overseas Voters

Mr Chen Show Mao asked the Prime Minister (a) what is the rationale for the residency requirement for overseas Singaporeans to have resided in Singapore for not less than 30 days during the three years immediately before a general election to be eligible as overseas voters; and (b) what measures are in place or will be taken to remind and assist overseas Singaporeans to register and vote, and whether the Ministry will consider (i) increasing the number of nine overseas voting centres to be nearer the number of our diplomatic missions abroad or (ii) permitting online registration and voting by overseas voters.

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The Deputy Prime Minister and Coordinating Minister for National Security and Minister for Home Affairs (Mr Teo Chee Hean) (for the Prime Minister): Mr Speaker, Sir, the provisions for overseas voting in our election law were first introduced in 2001. Prior to that, only Singapore citizens above the age of 21 who were ordinarily resident in Singapore as on the cut-off date for the registers of electors were entitled to have their names entered or retained in the registers of electors and were thus eligible to vote.

To allow overseas Singaporeans to be registered to vote, the definition of "ordinarily resident" in the Parliamentary Elections Act was expanded to deem overseas Singaporeans to be ordinarily resident in Singapore if they meet the minimum residency period. This was first done in 2001. This residency period is used to determine whether an overseas Singaporean can be deemed to be "ordinarily resident" in Singapore, thereby qualifying him to be registered as an overseas elector.

The residency requirement, when the law was first enacted in 2001, was that the person must have resided in Singapore for a cumulative period of two years within the period of five years, that is, two years out of the last five years, immediately preceding the registers of electors' cut-off date. This was later changed in August 2008, and the current residency requirement is "30 days out of the last three years", instead of the earlier "two years out of the last five years", or, prior to 2001, when overseas voting was not allowed at all.

The residency requirement, together with the need for an overseas Singaporean to maintain a local address with ICA for his name to be entered into a register of electors, will ensure that eligibility for overseas voting is extended to only those Singaporeans who maintain links to Singapore.

By changing the residency requirement to 30 days out of the last three years, all that an overseas Singaporean needs to do is to come home for, say, 10 days a year to visit his family and friends. In this way, they remain engaged in our domestic affairs and do not lose the connection with their homeland. This will help them to make an informed choice when they cast their votes.

The Elections Department has put in place a number of channels to draw voters' attention to the overseas voting exercise, including how to register as overseas electors. Besides publicising such information on its own website and the websites of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Overseas Singaporean Unit, the Elections Department also advertised in selected major overseas newspapers and distributed brochures to overseas Singaporeans through our overseas missions and at events organised by the Overseas Singaporean Unit. There were web banner advertisements at the Elections Department website, and at leading commercial websites which are frequently visited by overseas Singaporeans, such as AsiaOne , Channel NewsAsia and Lianhe Zaobao . In addition, emails were sent to overseas Singaporeans whose names were on the e-Registers of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Overseas Singaporean Unit, as well as to previously registered overseas electors whose registration had expired when the registers of electors were revised, to remind them to register or re-register as overseas electors.

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After the Writ of Election is issued, poll letters are sent to overseas electors to their overseas addresses and e-mail addresses. Poll cards are also sent to their Singapore addresses, to allow them to vote at a local polling station if they are back in Singapore on polling day. They may also print out their poll letter online by logging in to Elections Department's e-service.

While we try to have more overseas polling stations to allow more Singaporeans to vote overseas, the selection of a city for overseas polling must take into account several factors. First, there should be a significant number of Singaporeans living in the city and country. Second, the city must have Singapore Government-managed facilities which enable the officials to exercise operational command and control to ensure that the voting process is carried out in a proper and orderly manner, bearing in mind that it is not Singapore. Third, in order to ensure that we are able to optimise our limited resources, the city or country should not be so nearby that Singaporeans can travel back to Singapore to vote on polling day with relative ease.

Based on these considerations, the cities where we can site overseas polling stations are those where we have consulates or missions with sufficient mission staff to manage the overseas polls. There are nine cities where overseas polling stations can be set up in our missions. We will regularly review the cities where more overseas polling stations can be set up.

Online registration as overseas electors is available. Eligible voters who use their SingPass to authenticate their identity for the online service do not need to send in the completed and signed application form. They may also apply online to change their allotted overseas polling station or cancel their registration subsequently should they leave the city or country where they first registered as overseas voters.

The Elections Department has studied other methods of voting, including online voting. However, the Internet is a domain vulnerable to reliability, authentication and security risks. These include hacking and denial of service attacks. There are also issues of identity authentication and voting secrecy, thus, making online voting susceptible to electoral fraud. In addition, auditing the voting results in the event of a petition to the Election Judge is more challenging and potentially problematic.

Mr Chen Show Mao (Aljunied): I thank Deputy Prime Minister for his answers, and it is heartening to know of all these different measures that have been taken to assist and to remind overseas Singaporeans to discharge their responsibilities in voting and to exercise their right in voting. I hope the Government will continue to study ways to help overseas Singaporeans vote in our elections.

Mr Speaker: Mr Chen, do you have a supplementary question?

Mr Chen Show Mao: I hope that the Government will continue in its efforts in this area.

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Mr Speaker: Mr Chen, I assume you do not have a supplementary question. Next question, please.

Mr Chen Show Mao: I just want to point out that, given all the considerations that Deputy Prime Minister has enumerated, I think there is still some way to go to get overseas Singaporeans fully involved in our voting.

Mr Speaker: Mr Chen, I will have to interrupt you, but this is an opportunity for a supplementary question, not a speech. So, if you have a supplementary question, please ask it. If you do not, please move on to the next question.

Mr Chen Show Mao: I will move on – Question No 3, please.