SINGAPORE: A number of voters wearing clothing with pineapple prints and carrying bags with pineapple decorations have been turned away from polling stations as the nation votes for the next President today (1 Sept).
The Elections Department (ELD) issued a statement earlier this week reminding voters to avoid wearing or carrying clothing and items with candidate campaign logos during polling day, warning that election officials may refuse to allow them to enter the polling station if they do so.
ELD said, “On Polling Day, voters should refrain from wearing attire with images, or carrying with them items to the polling station, that may be construed as influencing other voters or canvassing support for any particular candidate. If they do so, they may be turned away by election officials at the polling stations.”
The pineapple is ex-Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s campaign symbol.
One woman wearing a top with a pineapple pattern went to cast her vote at the polling station within Woodlands Ring Primary School this morning. She was stopped from entering the polling station and was advised to return home to change her attire before voting.
The woman complied with the election official’s advice and returned to the polling station to cast her vote after changing her clothing.
Another voter was turned away for carrying jewellery with pineapple charms and had to go home to change her attire in order to vote successfully.
One netizen took to the Little Red Book to say that she was almost stopped from entering a polling station because she was carrying a handbag with a prominent three-dimensional pineapple design.
She wrote: “I haven’t used this bag for a long time. I just grabbed it and went out today without thinking about it at all.”
Another netizen said she, too, almost took a bag with a pineapple design with her to vote before her husband reminded her that she should refrain from doing so.
According to the ELD, about 85 per cent of voters have cast their ballots as of 5 p.m. Sample count results are expected to be released around 10 p.m. today.