HOLD PRESIDENTIAL RE-ELECTION TO SAFEGUARD INTEGRITY OF THE VOTING PROCESS

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According to an article entitled "Your vote is secret" on geraldgiam.sg, ballot boxes are integral to the entire voting process.

The basic process is this: voting slips are sealed in the ballot boxes, transported to the counting centres for counting, repacked and resealed and then transported to the Supreme Court to be held under lock and key for six months. When no disputes arise, these boxes are transported to the incineration plant to be destroyed.

There have been plenty of speculation that I won't comment upon, but the fact remains that the pictures must have been more than just an unfounded rumor since the elections department themselves have bothered to make a police report and the police have gone to issue a statement that they are in the midst of investigating the case. My view is that a conclusive statement will probably be hard to draw upon.

Even if it is as a result of a procedural lapse, the fact that 5 ballot boxes still exist 2 years after the Presidential elections means that something must have gone wrong somewhere. Given the razor-thin margin of the current incumbent President, it is important that we citizens want to know whether he is the one chosen by the people or was there more votes that were uncounted.

What can we do now to safeguard the Presidential Elections of the process? Given that Singaporeans are upset over Tony Tan as their president ("Singapore poll shows many still upset with long-ruling PAP" by Reuters) as well as the voting slips in the 5 boxes could very well make up that 7,000 votes, perhaps a re-election may not be as far fetched as it seems. That could very well be the best solution to assure us citizens and to protect the integrity of the voting system.



Joseph Tan
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