page_title: Presidential elections in Singapore
section_title: Eve of polling day and polling day
hierarchical_section_title: Presidential elections in Singapore / Election procedure / Eve of polling day and polling day
caption_attribution_description: English: A form showing the layout of the front of a ballot paper used in presidential elections in Singapore.
context_page_description: Presidential elections in Singapore, in which the President of Singapore is directly elected by popular vote, were introduced through amendments to the Constitution of Singapore in 1991. Potential candidates for office must meet stringent qualifications set out in the Constitution. Certificates of eligibility are issued by the Presidential Elections Committee. In particular, the PEC must assess that they are persons of integrity, good character and reputation; and if they have not previously held certain key government appointments or were the chief executives of profitable companies with shareholders' equity of an average of S$500 million for the most recent three years in that office, they must demonstrate to the PEC that they held a position of comparable seniority and responsibility in the public or private sector that has given them experience and ability in administering and managing financial affairs.
  The general strictness of the qualifications has resulted in three out of the five presidential elections being walkovers, as presidents S. R.
context_section_description: In 2010, legal changes were introduced to turn the eve of polling day for both presidential and parliamentary elections into a "cooling-off day" on which no campaigning would be permitted. Prime Minister Lee justified the changes as enabling voters to think dispassionately about the candidates' stands on issues raised and reducing the chance of public disorder. On the eve and on polling day itself, election advertising is prohibited, though the following activities remain unaffected:
  distributing a book or promoting the sale of a book for not less than its commercial value if the book was planned to be published regardless of whether there was to be an election;
  publishing news relating to an election in a licensed newspaper in any medium or in a licensed radio or television broadcast;
  conveying one's own political views on a non-commercial basis to another individual by telephonic or electronic transmission;
  election advertising lawfully published or displayed on the Internet before the start of the eve of polling day which is not changed after its publication or display; and
  the continued lawful display of posters and banners already displayed before the start of the eve of polling day.
  Until the polls have closed on polling day, it is prohibited to publish an exit poll, that is, "(a) any a statement relating to the way in which voters have voted at the election where that statement is (or might reasonably be taken to be) based on information given by voters after they have voted; or (b) any forecast as to the result of the election which is (or might reasonably be taken to be) based on information so given". If convicted, a person may be punished with a fine of up to $1,500, jail of up to 12 months, or both.
  Badges, favours, flags, rosettes, symbols, sets of colours, advertisements, handbills, placards, posters and replica voting papers may not be carried, worn, used or displayed by any person or on any vehicle as political propaganda, although candidates may wear replicas of the symbols allotted to them for election purposes. In addition, holding election meetings and canvassing are not permitted on the day before polling day or on polling day itself. Canvassing involves trying to persuade a person to vote or not to vote in a particular way; or visiting a voter for an election-related purpose at home or at his or her workplace. It is an offence to exercise undue influence on any person at or near a polling station: for example, trying to find out the identity of any person entering a polling station; recording voters' particulars; and waiting outside or loitering within 200 metres (660 ft) of polling stations.
  Polling day is a public holiday and voting is compulsory. Unless the returning officer decides otherwise, polling stations are open from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. on polling day. To vote, voters must go to the polling stations assigned to them. Applying for a ballot paper or voting in the name of someone else amounts to the offence of personation. If a person claiming to be a voter named in the electoral register turns up at a polling station after someone else claiming to be that voter has already voted, the second person is permitted to cast what is called a "tendered vote" using a ballot paper of a different colour after taking an oath to confirm his or her identity.
  After the poll closes, the presiding officer of each polling station seals the ballot boxes without opening them. Candidates or their polling agents may affix their own seals to the ballot boxes. The ballot boxes are then taken to counting centres to be opened and the ballots counted. A candidate or his or her counting agent may ask the returning officer for a recount of votes if the difference between the number of votes for the candidate with the most votes and any other candidate's number of votes is 2% or less, excluding rejected and tendered votes. After all counts, and recounts if any, have been completed, the returning officer ascertains whether the total number of electors registered to vote overseas is less than the difference between the 
caption: A form showing the layout of the front of a ballot paper used during presidential elections[188]
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