This GE2020 voter education one-stop portal features a comprehensive collection of information, infographics, comics, explainers, and articles exploring voting procedures, meta-electoral issues, and discussions on political principles and democracy in Singapore (*rather than election punditry).
Compiled by CAPE – an independent, non-partisan student-run collective based at Yale-NUS College focused on building political literacy and democratic capacity in Singapore.
Note: This is an educational compilation of works by both CAPE and other unaffiliated publications. Listed works are NOT representative of CAPE’s stances nor should they be taken as endorsements by CAPE.
Last updated: 1 July 2020 | Compiled by Haolie, Joel, & Jie Min
till Election Day – 10 July 2020
Basic Voter Information
Are you a first-time voter? Check out these resources below for a very quick crash course on all basic voting information and the electoral process.
- A comprehensive voter crash course by two Singaporean students
- Election Department’s (ELD) infographic on voting for first-time voters
- ELD’s infographic on safe-voting procedures
- What is my constituency?
- Who is my MP?
- Who is contesting in my constituency?
- What is my voting time slot?
- Comic on different MP schemes and what they do by @illobyangee
- CAPE’s explainer on the electoral process
- All manifestoes in spreadsheet format by Kirsten Han
- ELD’s glossary of common elections-related terms
Explainers on Electoral Issues
Explore these resources to find out more about other key ideas and principles behind elections, electoral processes, and democracy in Singapore!
- YOUR VOTE IS SECRET. New Naratif explains why in a quick comic
- What is a Parliamentary Supermajority? (by CAPE)
- What is democracy (explainer comic by New Naratif)
- What is partisanship (explainer comic by New Naratif)
- What is mandate? (explainer by Academia.SG)
- New Naratif article on gerrymandering in Singapore
- 8 common election myths & talking points such as “freak elections” and if all votes are equal (by CAPE)
- List of “gutter politics” tactics (by Academia.SG)
- Check out an infographic tracking the debate on Parliamentary live-streaming (by CAPE)
Further Articles & Discussions
Hungry for more knowledge? Delve deeper into more complex discussions about issues surrounding electoral rights and processes, democracy, the pandemic climate, and political illiberalism.
Pandemic conditions:
- Singapore’s Pandemic Elections (1.5 hour video of webinar by CAPE & Academia.SG)
- What sort of GE will this be? (analysis by Class Notes)
- A CAPE infographic on Should we be having elections amidst the pandemic
- NMP Anthea Ong’s Parliamentary speech expressing concern for a weaker electoral mandate during Covid elections
Incumbency advantages and electoral fairness:
- A recent report by ASEAN Parliamentarians for Human Rights alleging that Singapore’s GE2020 is neither a free nor fair election.
- Bilveer Singh on why it is difficult for Opposition to challenge the PAP’s electoral dominance
- Prof. Netina Tan’s research on how Singapore manipulates the electoral system to “manufacture” its legislative supermajority*
- New Naratif article on Singapore’s electoral system and its various issues
- Academic paper exploring the concept of a credibility gap among Opposition parties by Dr. Elvin Ong.
- An interactive guide on different electoral voting systems and their flaws, including the first-past-the-post system (Singapore’s system)
Others:
- A brief history of elections in Singapore (by Thum Ping Tjin)
- Academia.SG has a resource page on free academic journal articles and book chapters relating to democracy and politics in Singapore
* this is an academic paper and can only be accessed with a paid or an institutional account
Note: While the above links are well-researched resources, they may not be agreeable with your views and experiences. It is nevertheless important, in a mature democratic society, to engage with alternate perspectives and ideas with an open mind and with good faith.
Other Resources
Do also check out these other dedicated channels for cause-focused voter education resources:
- Climate Policy resources: Party Scorecard, Questions for My Candidate, Climate Policy Brief & Neighbourhood Greenwatch
- LGBT Rainbow Scorecard by Sayoni
- Stance of every party towards LGBT issues by heckinunicorn
- AWARE’s Gender Equality Manifesto – outlining six core principles and policy ideas
More resources:
- An even better resource hub for first time voters by @theweirdandwild
- GE2020 portal by New Naratif with comics, articles, discussions of various issues and electoral principles
- Singapore Votes: Student-run resource with daily updates
- Map view of GE2020 lineups by reddit user u/Lifth
- Subscribe to a GE2020 substack for all election news!
- What have been the boundary changes? – Straits Times interactive graphic on the changing electoral constituency boundaries over the years
- CAPE’s Parliament Tracker project – tracking attendance and performance of your MP
- Parliamentary attendance and speaking count by Kopi.co
- What type of voter are you? – a satirical card game by CAPE
- GE2020 Guide Telegram Channel to stay updated with latest GE rallies, debates, broadcasts and more, made by youths! They also created a spreadsheet of all the happenings.
Released GE2020 Party Manifestoes (so far):
- All manifestoes in spreadsheet format by Kirsten Han
- People’s Action Party manifesto
- Workers’ Party manifesto
- Singapore Democratic Party manifesto
- Progress Singapore Party manifesto
- Singapore People’s Party manifesto
- Reform Party manifesto
- People’s Power Party manifesto
- Red Dot United charter
Individual Party Telegram Channels: