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The Progress Singapore Party chief, Dr Tan Cheng Bock, has reiterated a suggestion that elections should not be called early in order to avoid a Covid-19 health crisis.
Dr Tan issued a video statement on Saturday (March 28) in response to comments in Parliament on Wednesday (March 25) by Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean that suggestions to delay elections and for the President to form a caretaker government were unconstitutional.
The PSP leader defended his earlier proposal for a caretaker government if elections cannot be held by the April 2021 deadline and added that a constitutional problem caused by delaying the elections is better than a health crisis.
In the 6-minute video on the party’s Facebook page, Dr Tan said: “I think (SM Teo) may have missed my main point.”
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He added that the Government had a choice to either call an early election in 2020, or to wait until the last possible date in April 2021.
“Senior Minister Teo also said in Parliament that an early general election will allow Singapore to decide who they want to captain the ship into the future,” said Dr Tan.
“But can he accept that an early general election means that the ship will potentially carry many more Singaporeans infected with Covid-19, and is this the risk he is prepared to take with our overtaxed health crisis?” he asked.
LATEST: STATEMENT FROM DR TAN CHENG BOCK/GE/COVID/TEO CHEE HEAN
LATEST: STATEMENT FROM DOCTOR TAN CHENG BOCK / GE Statement from Dr Tan Cheng Bock on the latest comments from parliament and the possible considerations for our Singapore. In reference to the statement herewith -below is a list of countries currently who have postponed elections (local, Parliamentary and others) in the light of the situation (COVID-19), for Singaporeans to look at and consider. POSTPONED ELECTIONS DUE TO COVID-19• Municipal and mayoral elections in Vorarlberg, Austria (originally scheduled for 15 March 2020)• Primary elections in Ohio, Georgia, Kentucky and Louisiana, USA (originally scheduled for 17 March 2020). Also, primary elections in Connecticut, Indiana, Louisiana and Maryland are postponed (originally scheduled for March-May 2020).• All by-elections and voter registration activities in South Africa (originally planned for March-May 2020)• Second round of local elections in France (originally scheduled for 22 March 2020)• Single Constituency Referendum, Falkland Islands (British Overseas Territory (Originally scheduled for 26 March 2020).• Elections for the community action board, Colombia (originally scheduled for 29 March 2020)• Local municipal elections in Chipao, Ayacucho district, Peru (originally scheduled for 29 March 2020)• Municipal elections in the Cordovan City of Río Cuarto, Argentina (originally scheduled for 29 March 2020)• Municiple in elections in Hassi El Ferid, and Jbeniana , Tunisia (28-29 March 2020) • By-elections for senatorial district in Bayelsa, Imo and Plateau, Nigeria (originally scheduled for March 2020) • Local elections in South Carolina, USA (all elections scheduled for March and April 2020 are postponed)• Local council elections, Maldives (4 April 2020) • Referendum on changes to the constitutional court, Armenia (originally scheduled for 5 April 2020)• Regional elections in Euskadi and Galicia, Spain (originally scheduled for 5 April 2020)• Parliamentary elections in North Macedonia (originally scheduled for 12 April 2020) • Local elections in Kyrgyzstan (originally scheduled for 13 April) • Parliamentary elections in Syria (originally scheduled for 13 April, moved to 20 May 2020)• Second round of parliamentary elections in Iran (originally scheduled for 17 April, moved to 11 September 2020)• Constitutional referendum in Russia (scheduled for 22 April 2020),• Parliamentary elections in Sri Lanka (originally scheduled for 25 April 2020)• Supplementary election for the position of senator in Mato Grosso Brazil (originally scheduled for 26 April 2020)• Constitutional referendum, Chile (originally scheduled for 26 April, moved 25 October 2020)• General elections in Serbia (originally scheduled for 26 April 2020)• Presidential Elections in Northern Cyprus (originally scheduled for 26 April, moved to 11 October 2020)• Local elections in the United Kingdom (originally scheduled for the first week of May 2020, moved to May 2021)• General elections in Bolivia (originally scheduled for 3 May 2020)• Federal vote, Switzerland (originally scheduled for 17 May 2020) and several local (municipal) elections in the cantons of Fribourg, Neuchâtel, Ticino, Luzern and Geneva (originally scheduled for March-May 2020).• A referendum in Italy to reduce the number of seats in parliament (originally scheduled for 29 May 2020), in addition to numerous regional and local elections• Primary elections in Paraguay (originally scheduled for 12 July, moved to 2 August 2020) and Local (Municipal) elections in Paraguay (originally scheduled for 8 November, moved to 29 November 2020)Source: https://www.idea.int/news-media/multimedia-reports/global-overview-covid-19-impact-elections#singapore #psp #progresssingaporeparty #SGunited #DefendSG #covid19 #frontliners #ParliamentSG #SingaporeTogether #youdeservebetter #ForABetterSingapore
Posted by Progress Singapore Party on Friday, 27 March 2020
He said that Singapore’s ministers and ministries are already hard-pressed — and would have to spread themselves out even thinner if an election were to occur — figuring out how to safely carry out the electoral process.
The calls not to hold an early election were also addressed by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a media interview at the Istana a day earlier, on Friday (May 27).
Mr Lee had said: “I think it is a very difficult decision because we are going into a very big storm and you want to have the strongest team and mandate, and the longest runway so that Singapore can have the best leadership to see it through this storm.” /TISG
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