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Former Non-Constituency Member of Parliament (NCMP) and Workers’ Party (WP) politician Yee Jenn Jong took to social media asking about the civil servants who will be mobilized should the General Elections (GE) be called.
In a Facebook post yesterday (Mar 26), Mr Yee wrote, “during GE, a large number of civil servants, especially teachers will be mobilised for polling duties. Can they refuse to work because they want to avoid unnecessary exposure to Covid-19?”
He pushed, “Can they demand to be provided with masks because there will be some nature of work that may need closer proximity to voters (e.g. checking of register)”.
Asking if the incumbents have fully considered the logistics of calling for the elections during the Covid-19 outbreak, Mr Yee posed, “Can people refuse to vote because they do not wish to be exposed to the virus? Will they be struck off the register?”
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He also asked if candidates who were issued with Leave of Absences (LOA), Stay-Home Notices (SHN) and Quarantine Orders (QO) just before nomination day were able to submit nomination forms by proxy.
He also asked if the many people on SHN, LOA or QO will be deprived of their rights to vote.
“What if a national lockdown becomes necessary after GE is called? Can undo the GE?”, he asked.
Mr Yee said that having rallied broadcasted online or on TV was only one part of the situation.
“The actual nomination, polling and counting come with lots of different considerations. There’s a limit to how much safe distancing we can do when 2 million+ people are expected to vote within the stipulated polling period”, he added.
Explaining that because Singapore does not have a properly tested system for postal or electronic voting, “It might after all, be better to wait out and even have to amend the constitution if the situation is still bad close to April 2021, or work out better logistics to support the process”, Mr Yee concluded. /TISG
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