Singapore — Workers’ Party leader Pritam Singh has said in response to an online query about electoral fraud that there was “no basis” to make such a case for General Election 2020.

On Monday night (Dec 14), Mr Singh had posted on Facebook a photo of Madam Leong, a 71-year-old woman who had volunteered as a polling agent for the WP.

“Polling agents are appointed by the election agents of candidates. Their duty is to ensure that an election is carried out in accordance to the law,” he said, adding that because of the WP’s small size, the party relies heavily on  volunteer polling agents.

Mr Singh added: “Their participation also helps to demystify the political process and the voting secrecy.” He also outlined the requirements for volunteering as a poll watcher, which are relatively simple and straightforward.

Members of the online community commented on Mr Singh’s post and joined him in praising the work of Madam Leong and other polling agents.

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One man, Mr Jordan Tan, had specific questions relating to electoral fraud. He asked if the WP head suspected that collusion had occurred to cheat the “East Coast GRC vote count (& West Coast too, for that matter)?”

He added: “I understand the ‘vote-counting’ machine used by ELD in this year’s GE, was procured from the very same Venezuela company which is suspect of fradulent vote-flipping algorithm in the recent US election.

“I remembered there was an uproar against the ELD on the evening of GE polling day, whereby the ELD unilaterally extended the voting hours, which had resulted in the ballot boxes not being co-observed by Opposition representatives for a few hours.”

Mr Tan also asked if this had been pre-planned in order to determine how many votes were needed to win the East Coast and West Coast GRCs.

Mr Singh’s answer was definite and quite final. He said: “No, and I have no basis to make such a case. There were thousands of opposition polling agents. I am not aware of a single case/claim made by any of them.”

He also encouraged Mr Tan to volunteer as a polling agent in the next elections “to disabuse yourself of any concerns about the polling process”.

The WP head was backed by one such volunteer, Nick PT, who said: “I was a polling agent for East Coast GRC and there was not fraud observed on the ground. The public officers who served as election officials were impartial and professional.”

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Another commenter, Seah Kim Ping, who had been a volunteer polling agent for another opposition party, also concurred with Mr Singh. This person said: I have the opportunity to be a polling agent for another opposition party. I swear by the integrity of the system and the people involved. They have sacrificed precious family time to do national service for the nation. They are the embodiment of integrity and I am proud to be Singaporean seeing their dedication!”

Mr Tan thanked Mr Singh for his answer and said that he would indeed volunteer as a polling agent one day “if my schedule allows”. /TISG

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