Navigating the new terrain of a reserved election

• Main Author: EUGENE, Tan K. B.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2017
• Subjects: Asian Studies; Election Law
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/sol_research/3848; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/sol_research/article/5806/viewcontent/Today_20170530_1.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

In a commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan discussed the workings of the upcoming Singapore presidential election. He noted that as the next election is a reserved one, all the more voters should specially consider a candidate’s commitment and contributions to multiracialism. On the reserved election mechanism, Associate Prof Tan noted that it helps ensure that the presidency is not only accessible, but is seen to be accessible to all the major racial communities in Singapore.“It functions as an inter-generational safeguard for minority representation, while not going as far as mechanically rotating the presidency among the major races, which can smack of tokenism and affect the legitimacy of the President’s decisions in the exercise of his custodial powers. Hence, the reserved election can be the platform on which candidates and the electorate alike can be nudged or incentivised to think of how their electoral campaign and behaviour can further the cause of multiracialism in Singapore. The reserved election should not be an end in itself, but also a means of recognising our diversity and how we can make it work for us,” he said.