The objective of this mission was to examine the elections system in the city-state. This mission is also part of the on-going project to analyze the electoral and democratization processes in Asia.

Unlike other democratic countries that hold free and fair elections, Singapore has a history of not making the dates for the parliamentary elections known until just before elections are called, leaving the opposition with little time to prepare and campaign. The election dates are often left to speculation by potential candidates and the general public.

In the light of these uncertain polling dates, ARDA decided to send a mission to learn about the system and, if necessary, consider sending an observation team to monitor the next elections there.

The ESM met with journalists from the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH). SPH is partially owned by Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government's investment arm. It has control over print-media and all newspapers in Singapore. The team also met with two political parties: the National Solidarity Party (NSP) and the Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) as well as the Think Centre (TC) and the Open Singapore Centre (OSC), two human rights oriented non-government organizations (NGOs). A forum to which the public was invited was also held for the team to hear the views of Singaporeans.

Organizations that declined to meet with the ESM were:

1. The Elections Department (ELD), which is tasked with conducting elections in Singapore. As the ELD is directly accountable to the Prime Minister’s Office, the question of its independence and impartiality necessarily arises. The ESM felt that a meeting with the ELD was crucial. Unfortunately, it declined ARDA’s invitation for a meeting.

2. MediaCorp, the only broadcasting station wholly owned by Temasek Holdings, has a monopoly on television and radio broadcasting in Singapore.

3. The political parties that declined to meet with the ESM included the ruling PAP as well as the opposition Workers’ Party (WP), Singapore People’s Party (SPP), and Pertubuhan Kebangsaan Melayu Singapura (PKMS).

Dr Paul Scott, as the ESM’s team leader, sent out by e-mail and fax requesting meetings with the groups mentioned above. The letters clearly stated the time frame of the mission, its purposes and intentions. Between late December of 2004 and mid January 2005, continual efforts were made to establish contact and arrange meetings with the ELD and the PAP. Telephone calls as well as e-mails were made. In addition, efforts were made to establish contact with PAP and the ELD during the ESM visit and even after the team had left the city-state. Since both organizations declined to meet with the team, a list of questions was prepared and e-mailed to the PAP and the ELD. The PAP finally responded on January 26, 2005 by asking the ESM several questions.

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