Singapore National Referendum Ordinance

“elector” means a person whose name is entered as an elector in a register of electors prepared under the provisions of the Singapore Legislative Assembly Elections Ordinance (Cap. 53);

“referendum” means the submission to the electors of any matter by an order of the Yang di-Pertuan Negara made in accordance with the provisions of subsection (1) of section 5 of this Ordinance;

“Superintendent” means the Superintendent appointed under section 3 of this Ordinance;

“voter” means a person who, whether his name does or does not appear in a register of electors prepared under the provisions of the Singapore Legislative Assembly Elections Ordinance, applies to vote or votes at a referendum.

The Minister may appoint a Superintendent and such Assistant Superintendents as he may from time to time think fit.

An Assistant Superintendent shall have all the powers and may perform all the duties of the Superintendent and any reference in this Ordinance to the Superintendent shall, unless the context otherwise requires, be deemed to include a reference to an Assistant Superintendent.

An appointment made by the Minister under this section may be revoked by him at any time.

Whenever the Yang di-Pertuan Negara considers that it is in the public interest to do so he may by order direct that any matter be submitted to the electors for a referendum.

Where a matter is submitted to the electors for a referendum, the vote shall be given in such manner as is prescribed in this Ordinance.

Without prejudice to the provisions of subsection (2) of this section, the register of electors prepared under the provisions of the Singapore Legislative Assembly Elections Ordinance, hereinafter in this Ordinance referred to as the “register of electors”, shall be conclusive evidence for the purpose of determining whether a person is or is not entitled to vote at any referendum.

No person who, by reason of circumstances existing on the day of any referendum, is not, by virtue of the provisions of section 5 or 6 of the Singapore Legislative Assembly Elections Ordinance, entitled to have his name entered or retained in any register of electors, shall be entitled to vote at such referendum and if such person votes at such referendum he shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

Nothing in this section shall affect the liability of any person to any penalty for an infringement of the provisions of section 9 of this Ordinance relating to plural voting.

The Superintendent shall provide as many polling stations for a polling district as are in his opinion sufficient for that polling district and may in his discretion provide as many polling places within each polling station as he deems necessary.

For the purpose of taking a referendum, the Superintendent may adopt such symbols as he thinks fit and such symbols shall be printed on the ballot paper.

The day fixed for the taking of a referendum, hereinafter in this Ordinance (Cap. 270) referred to as “polling day”, shall be a public holiday as though it had been so expressly appointed in addition to the days mentioned in Schedule A to the Holidays Ordinance.

Nothing contained in section 4 or 7 of the Holidays Ordinance shall affect the performance on such polling day of any act or thing relating to public offices and departments concerned with the referendum or of the duty to vote imposed by section 21 of this Ordinance.

The Superintendent shall appoint, and may revoke the appointment of, one or more persons, hereinafter in this Ordinance referred to as “presiding officers”, to preside at each polling station. If more than one presiding officer is appointed for any polling station, the Superintendent may appoint one of the presiding officers to be the senior presiding officer who shall exercise general supervision over the other presiding officers, and over all arrangements for the taking of the vote in that station. Each presiding officer shall be supplied with a copy of that part of the register of electors containing the names of electors in such register assigned to his polling place.

If any presiding officer is, by sickness or other cause, prevented from performing any of his duties under the provisions of this Ordinance, and there is not time for another person to be appointed by the Superintendent, the presiding officer may appoint a deputy to act for him. Every such appointment shall as soon as possible be reported to the Superintendent and may be revoked by the Superintendent, but without prejudice to the validity of anything already done by such deputy.

The Superintendent may, if he thinks fit, preside at any polling station and the provisions of this Ordinance relating to a presiding officer shall apply to such Superintendent.

Outside each polling station there shall be fixed in a conspicuous place by the presiding officer before the commencement of the poll a notice in English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil giving directions for the guidance of voters.

It shall be the duty of the Superintendent to provide at each polling station reasonable facilities for the electors allotted to such station to enable them to mark their votes, screened from observation, and to vote in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance, and he shall determine or may authorise the presiding officer or senior presiding officer to determine, in what manner such facilities shall be distributed among the electors entitled to vote at such station.

The referendum shall not be questioned by reason only of non-compliance with any of the provisions of this section.

No person shall be admitted to vote at any polling station except the one allotted to him:Provided that where an elector for any electoral division is employed as a presiding officer, police officer, or in any other official capacity at a polling station, and it is inconvenient for him to vote at the polling station which has been allotted to him, the Superintendent may authorise the elector, by a certificate to vote at the polling station at which he is employed, and that polling station shall, for the purposes of this section, be deemed to be the polling station allotted to such elector.

Such certificate shall be given under the hand of the Superintendent and shall state the name of the elector, his number, and description in the register of electors, and the fact that he is so employed as aforesaid.

Unless the Minister, by notification in the Gazette, appoints any other hour, the voting shall open at eight o’clock in the forenoon of the day specified in the notification published under the provisions of section 6 of this Ordinance and shall close at eight o’clock in the afternoon of that day.

The presiding officer shall keep order in his station, and shall regulate the number of voters to be admitted at a time, and shall exclude all other persons except the Superintendent and persons authorized in writing by the Superintendent, the police officers on duty and other persons officially employed at the polling station.

The Superintendent may, at his discretion, allow the political parties represented in the Legislative Assembly to appoint agents, hereinafter in this Ordinance referred to as “polling agents”, to the polling stations, provided that where, at any polling station more polling places than one have been established, the Superintendent may, at his discretion, allow such political parties to appoint a polling agent to each such polling place.

The president or the secretary of such political party shall appoint every polling agent and shall on polling day notify the presiding officer at a polling station in writing the name and address of the polling agent or agents appointed to act at such station.

No polling agent whose name has not been notified to the presiding officer as required under the provisions of subsection (6) of this section shall be admitted to a polling station.

If any person misconducts himself in the polling station, or fails to obey the lawful orders of the presiding officer, he may immediately, by order of the presiding officer, be removed from the polling station by any police officer in or near that station or by any other person authorized in writing by the presiding officer or by the Superintendent to remove him; and the person so removed shall not, unless with the permission of the presiding officer, again be allowed to enter the polling station. Any person so removed as aforesaid, if charged with the commission in such station of any offence, may be kept in custody until he can be brought before a magistrate.

The powers conferred by this section shall not be exercised so as to prevent any elector who is otherwise entitled to vote at any polling station from having an opportunity of voting at such station.

At a referendum, the votes shall be given by ballot, and the ballot of each voter shall consist of a paper, hereinafter in this Ordinance referred to as a “ballot paper”.

Every ballot paper shall be in English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil.

Each ballot paper shall have a number printed on the back and shall have attached thereto a counterfoil with the same number printed on the face thereof.

Every ballot box shall be so constructed that the ballot papers can be introduced therein but cannot be withdrawn therefrom unless the box is unlocked.

The presiding officer at a polling station immediately before the commencement of the voting, shall show each ballot box to be used at the commencement of the voting empty to such persons, if any, as may be present in such station so that they may see that it is empty, and shall then lock it up and place his seal upon it in such manner as to prevent it being opened without breaking such seal, and shall place it in his view for the receipt of ballot papers and keep it so locked and sealed.

The provisions of subsection (2) of this section shall apply to every ballot box used during a referendum and it shall be sufficient compliance with those provisions if a ballot box is shown, locked up and sealed as aforesaid, before it is used.

Each voter entitled to vote shall be given one ballot paper and shall have one vote.

The ballot paper shall be delivered to the voter by the presiding officer or a person acting under his authority. Immediately before the ballot paper is delivered to the voter, the paper shall be stamped on the back or perforated with the official mark or initialled by the presiding officer; and the number, name and description of the voter, as stated in the copy of the register of electors, shall be called out, and the number of such elector shall be marked on the counterfoil, and a mark shall be placed in the register of electors against the number of the elector to denote that he has received a ballot paper but without showing the particulars of the ballot paper which he has received.

The voter, on receiving the ballot paper shall forthwith proceed to such place in the station as may be indicated by the presiding officer or by any person acting under such officer’s authority, and shall there secretly mark such paper as near as may be in accordance with the directions given for the guidance of voters under this Ordinance. The voter shall then fold the paper so as to conceal his vote, and shall put such paper so folded up into the ballot box. He shall vote without undue delay and shall leave the polling station as soon as he has put his ballot paper into the ballot box.

The presiding officer or any person authorized by him may ask any voter if such voter understands the method of voting in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance and may, if he thinks fit, on the application of any voter, explain to the voter in the presence of any polling agents, if present, the method of voting in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance; but in so doing he shall carefully abstain from any action which might be construed by the voter as advice or a direction to vote in any particular manner.

The presiding officer, on the application of a voter who is incapacitated by blindness or other physical cause from voting in the manner prescribed by this Ordinance, shall mark the ballot paper of such voter in the manner directed by the voter, and shall cause such ballot paper to be placed in the ballot box.

The presiding officer may at any time while voting is proceeding take such steps as may be necessary to ensure that no voter delays unduly in any place reserved for the marking of ballot papers.

Every elector shall record his vote in the electoral division for which he is registered.

The Superintendent shall, at the close of the referendum, prepare a list of the numbers, names and descriptions as stated in the register of electors of such electors as have failed to vote at the referendum and certify the list under his hand.

Notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1) of section 26 of this Ordinance, it shall be lawful for the Superintendent to break the seals of packets containing the marked copies of the registers of electors and to inspect and retain such copies for the purpose of preparing the list referred to in subsection (2) of this section and of any inquiries connected therewith.

The list prepared by the Superintendent under the provisions of subsection (2) of this section shall be forwarded by the Superintendent to the Registration Officer appointed under the provisions of section 3 of the Singapore Legislative Assembly Elections Ordinance (Cap. 53), hereinafter in this Ordinance referred to as the “Registration Officer”.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this Ordinance, the Registration Officer shall on receipt of such list cause the names of all persons appearing in the list to be expunged from the register of electors.

The Registration Officer shall give notice in the Gazette that such list has been received by him from the Superintendent and that such list or copies thereof are open for inspection at all reasonable hours of the day at the office of the Registration Officer and at such other place or places in each electoral division as may be specified in such notice.

Every person whose name appears on the list of which notice has been given by the Registration Officer under the provisions of subsection (6) of this section may make a written application for the restoration of his name to the register of electors.

If any applicant referred to under the provisions of subsection (7) of this section satisfies the Registration Officer that he has a good and sufficient reason for not having recorded his vote his name shall be restored to the register of electors without penalty. Where such applicant does not so satisfy the Registration Officer his name shall be restored to the register of electors on payment to the Registration Officer of the sum of five dollars. Such names shall be restored to the register of electors at the next ensuing revision of such register.

The presiding officer at any polling station may in his discretion require any voter, before he is given a ballot paper, to furnish such evidence of his identity as the presiding officer may deem necessary.

If any person fails to furnish such evidence of his identity or if the presiding officer is not satisfied with any evidence furnished the presiding officer may refuse to give him a ballot paper.

The presiding officer of each polling station, as soon as practicable after the close of the voting, shall in the presence of any polling agents, if present, make up into separate packets, sealed with his own seal —

The ballot box or boxes unopened shall be secured by the presiding officer and sealed with his seal in the presence of any polling agents, if present, in such a manner that the box or boxes cannot be opened and nothing can be inserted therein without breaking the seals.

The presiding officer shall despatch each such packet and the ballot box or boxes in safe custody to the Superintendent.

The Superintendent may, at his discretion, allow the political parties represented in the Legislative Assembly to appoint agents, hereinafter in this Ordinance referred to as “counting agents”, to attend at the counting of the votes at the counting centres. Written notice of the names and addresses of the counting agents so appointed shall be given to the Superintendent at least three clear days before the date of the referendum.

The Superintendent shall make arrangements for counting the votes, in the presence of such counting agents as attend, as soon as practicable after the ballot boxes have been received at the counting centre and for that purpose shall notify each political party represented in the Legislative Assembly of the time and place or places at which he will count the votes.

The Superintendent, his assistants and clerks, and the counting agents, but no other persons, save with the sanction of the Superintendent, may be present at the counting of the votes.

Before the Superintendent proceeds to count the votes, he or a person authorized by him shall open each ballot box and, taking out the papers therein, mix together the whole of the ballot papers contained in the ballot boxes. The Superintendent, while counting the votes, shall keep the ballot papers with their faces upwards, and take all proper precautions to prevent any person from seeing the numbers printed on the backs of such ballot papers.

The Superintendent shall, so far as is practicable, proceed continuously with the counting of the votes and shall endorse “rejected” on any ballot paper which he may reject as invalid.

The Superintendent shall not count the tendered ballot papers but shall place them in a separate packet and shall seal such packet.

When the counting of the votes has been completed, the Superintendent shall declare the result of the referendum.

Upon the completion of the counting, and after the result has been declared by him, the Superintendent shall seal up the ballot papers and all other documents relating to the referendum as required by this Ordinance and shall retain the same for a period of three months and thereafter shall cause them to be destroyed.

The Superintendent shall reject as invalid the following ballot papers only, namely, any ballot paper: —

Where the Superintendent is satisfied that any mark made on a ballot paper clearly indicates the intention of the voter, the Superintendent shall not reject the ballot paper on the ground solely that it has not been marked in all respects in accordance with the directions given for the guidance of voters under the provisions of this Ordinance.

Before rejecting a ballot paper, the Superintendent shall show it to any counting agent, if present, and hear his views thereon, taking all proper precautions to prevent any person from seeing the number printed on the back of such ballot paper.

The decision of the Superintendent whether or not any ballot paper shall be rejected shall be final and shall not be questioned in any court.

No referendum shall be invalid by reason only of any failure to comply with any provision of this Ordinance if it appears that the referendum was conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in such provisions, and that such failure did not affect the result of the referendum.

Where in this Ordinance any act or thing is required or authorized to be done in the presence of any person, the non-attendance of any such person at the time and place appointed for the purpose shall not, if that act or thing is otherwise duly done, invalidate that act or thing.

Every person who —

Every person who attempts to commit any offence specified in this section shall be liable to the punishment prescribed for that offence.

Every offence under this section shall be a seizable offence within the meaning of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 132).

In a prosecution for an offence in relation to a ballot paper, ballot box or marking instrument at any referendum, the property in such ballot paper, ballot box or marking instrument, as well as the property in the counterfoil of any such ballot paper, may be stated to be in the Superintendent at that referendum.

A prosecution for an offence under this section shall not be instituted without the sanction of the State Advocate-General.

Every officer, clerk, interpreter, and any other person authorized to attend at a polling station, or at the counting of the votes, shall, before so attending, take an oath of secrecy.

The Superintendent shall have power to administer the oath required to be taken under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section.

Every officer, clerk, interpreter and any other person in attendance at a polling station shall maintain, and aid in maintaining, the secrecy of the voting in such polling station, and shall not communicate save for some purpose authorized by law, before the voting is closed, to any person any information as to the name or number on the register of electors of any elector who has or has not applied for a ballot paper or voted at such station, or as to the official mark, but the total number of voters who have voted at any polling station, at any time before the voting is closed, may, in the discretion of the presiding officer, be divulged to any polling agent.

No such officer, clerk, interpreter and no person whosoever shall attempt to obtain in the polling station information as to how any voter in such polling station is about to vote or has voted, or communicate at any time to any person any information obtained in any polling station.

Every officer, clerk, interpreter and counting agent in attendance at the counting of the votes shall maintain, and aid in maintaining, the secrecy of the voting, and shall not attempt to ascertain at such counting the number on the back of any ballot paper or communicate to any person any information obtained at such counting as to how any vote is given by any particular ballot paper.

No person, except a presiding officer acting for a purpose authorized by this Ordinance or a person authorized by the presiding officer and acting for such purpose as aforesaid, shall communicate or attempt to communicate with any voter after such voter has received a ballot paper and before he has placed the same in a ballot box.

Every person who acts in contravention of the provisions of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months.

A person shall be guilty of treating if he corruptly, by himself or by any other person, either before, during or after any referendum directly or indirectly gives or provides, or pays wholly or in part the expense of giving any meat, drink, refreshment, cigarette, entertainment or other provision or thing or any money or ticket or other means or device to enable the procuring of any such meat, drink, refreshment, cigarette, entertainment or other provision or thing to or for any person —

A person shall also be guilty of treating if he corruptly accepts or takes any such meat, drink, refreshment, cigarette, entertainment or other provision or thing or any such money or ticket or who adopts such other means or device to enable the procuring of such meat, drink, refreshment, cigarette, entertainment or other provision or thing.

Every person who —

Every person who is convicted of a corrupt practice shall become incapable for a period of seven years from the date of his conviction of being registered as an elector or of voting at any referendum under this Ordinance or of voting at any election under the Singapore Legislative Assembly Elections Ordinance (Cap. 53) or of being elected a Member of the Legislative Assembly, and if at that date he is a Member of the Legislative Assembly, his seat shall be vacated from the date of such conviction.

A prosecution for a corrupt practice shall not be instituted without the sanction of the State Advocate-General:Provided that nothing herein shall prevent any police officer from exercising the powers conferred upon him by Chapter XIII of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 132) in the case of non-seizable offences or from exercising his powers to prevent a continuance of any corrupt practice.

Subject to the provisions of this section, a person shall not either let, lend, employ, hire, borrow or use any motor vehicle for the purpose of conveyance of electors or voters to or from any polling station and a person knowingly acting in contravention of this section shall be guilty of an illegal practice under this Ordinance.

Nothing in this section shall prevent any person employing a motor vehicle for the purpose of conveying to or from any polling station himself or any member of his family.

For the purposes of subsection (2) of this section the expression “member of his family” means a person’s spouse, parents and children.

During the hours of the voting on polling day no person shall park a motor vehicle within one hundred yards of any polling station other than a motor vehicle used for the conveyance of any sick, infirm or disabled person for such time as is reasonably necessary to enable such person to cast his vote or any motor vehicle used by the Superintendent or his staff or by any police officer.

Any person who contravenes the provisions of subsection (4) of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one hundred dollars.

A police officer in uniform may, save as hereinafter provided, arrest without warrant any person in charge of or driving a motor vehicle, who has committed or is suspected of having committed an offence under this section.

The power of arrest under subsection (6) of this section shall not be exercised if either —

Every employer shall, on polling day, allow to every elector in his employ a reasonable period for voting, and no employer shall make any deduction from the pay or other remuneration of any such elector or impose upon or exact from him any penalty by reason of his absence during such period.

Any employer who, directly or indirectly, refuses, or by intimidation, undue influence, or in any other manner, interferes with the granting to any elector in his employ, of a reasonable period for voting, as in this section provided, shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars or to imprisonment for six months.

No person other than the Superintendent shall make, print, publish, distribute, post up, wear, use, carry or display, or cause to be made, printed, published, distributed, posted up, worn, used, carried or displayed any badge, symbol, rosette, favour, set of colours, flag, banner, advertisement, handbill, placard or poster or any replica of a ballot paper in connection with any referendum at any time either before, during or after any such referendum.

Any police officer may arrest without warrant any person offending in his view against any of the provisions of this section and take him before a Magistrate’s Court to be dealt with according to law.

Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for one year.

Every person who commits an illegal practice under this Ordinance shall on conviction by a District Court be liable to a fine not exceeding three hundred dollars and become incapable for a period of three years from the date of his conviction of being registered as an elector or of voting at any referendum under this Ordinance (Cap. 53) or of voting at an election under the Singapore Legislative Assembly Elections Ordinance or of being elected a Member of the Legislative Assembly, and if at that date he is a Member of the Legislative Assembly, his seat shall be vacated from the date of such conviction.

A prosecution for an illegal practice shall not be instituted without the sanction of the State Advocate-General:Provided that nothing herein shall prevent any police officer from exercising the powers conferred upon him by Chapter XIII of the Criminal Procedure Code (Cap. 132) in the case of non-seizable offences or from exercising his powers to prevent a continuance of any illegal practice.

No person shall —

Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for one year.

Any police officer may arrest without warrant any person offending in his view against any of the provisions of this section and take him before a Magistrate’s Court to be dealt with according to law.

No person shall —

Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for one year.

Any police officer may arrest without warrant any person offending in his view against any of the provisions of this section and take him before a Magistrate’s Court to be dealt with according to law.

It shall be an offence for a person to operate any loudspeaker or other instrument for the production or reproduction of speech, sound or music in any street or public place or any premises adjoining any street or public place, so as to interfere with any referendum meeting or so as to cause annoyance to persons conducting or attending such meeting.

Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for one year.

Any police officer may arrest without warrant any person offending in his view against any of the provisions of this section and take him before a Magistrate’s Court to be dealt with according to law.

No person —

Any person who contravenes any of the provisions of this section shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for one year.

Any police officer may arrest without warrant any person offending in his view against the provisions of subsection (1) of this section and take him before a Magistrate’s Court to be dealt with according to law.

Where any notice is required by this Ordinance to be published and, in the opinion of the authority who is required to publish such notice, the prescribed mode of publication does not give sufficient publicity to the notice, he may, in addition to publishing the notice as required by this Ordinance, exhibit copies of the notice in conspicuous places or take such other steps as he may deem necessary for giving publicity thereto.

Every person who, without lawful authority, destroys, mutilates, defaces or removes any notice which is exhibited by any authority under the provisions of subsection (1) of this section shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding fifty dollars.

The Superintendent may use, free of charge, as a polling station, any school or portion thereof for the purposes of any referendum.

The Superintendent shall make good any damage done to, and defray any expense incurred by the persons having control over, any such school or portion thereof by reason of its being used as a polling station.