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Today’s a National Holiday.

Less than a month ago I wasn’t even aware that July 10th was a National Holiday and nobody in Singapore either because until June 23rd it wasn’t a National Holiday, it only became one because General Election Day was being set on that day.

Yep crazy idea that in order for everyone to vote, and if the election is not scheduled on a weekend (like a LOT of countries around the world), the day shouldn’t be between a decision to do your duty to vote (well voting is also mandatory in Singapore) and losing a day of wages in some cases.

I was aware that Singapore was meant to have an election but I was not sure about the timing, but definitely thought it was later in the year. Turned out I wasn’t the only one surprised of the date of the elections. (Technically Singapore had until April 2021 to hold its next election). On June 23rd Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loon announced that President Halimah Yacob had dissolved the 13th parliament of Singapore and had issued a writ of election with nomination to be held a week later on June 30th. The Prime Minister also announced that the GE2020 will be held on 10 July 2020 to elect Members of Parliament to the 14the Parliament of Singapore since independence in 1965.

According to Article 65(4) of the Constitution, the maximum term of any given Parliament is five years from the date of its first sitting following a general election, after which it is dissolved by operation of law. However, the Prime Minister may advise the President to dissolve Parliament at any time during the five-year period. A general election must be held within three months after every dissolution of Parliament. Singapore uses the first-past-the-post system of election, and voting is mandatory for all Singaporeans aged 21 or above as of 1 March.

The campaigning time for elections in Singapore remains very short (…) The legal minimum campaign time, from when the election is announced to polling day, is nine days. This minimum campaigning time is generally used in Singaporean elections.The announcement of the election follows the announcement of new constituency boundaries.

Yesterday was cooling-off day when no campaigning could be done! Also check out the General Election website where you can see if you are registered, where are the polling station, etc… https://www.eld.gov.sg/elections_safevoting.html