Election boundaries: Does trust override the need for transparency?

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An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

With the General Elections 2015 possibly just around the corner, there have been many sentiments shared about various electoral rules and regulations that shape the voting system. This piece focuses on some of criticisms and counter-criticisms to the issue of transparency in the redrawing of the boundaries set by the Electoral Boundaries Review Committee (EBRC).

A chief criticism is that Singapore does not have an independent elections commission.

The EBRC is appointed by the Singapore Elections Department; a statutory board under the Prime Minister’s Office. Once the EBRC completes its report, recommendations are made to the Prime Minister who is also the head of a competing political party. This fuels the perception of bias. While we know that the EBRC is chaired by the Secretary to the Cabinet, there is no information on who the other committee members are, other than the fact that they’re civil servants.

PM Lee Hsien Loong made a statement in Parliament on 13 July 2015, providing a reason on why the EBRC does not comprise a representation of political parties:

http://inconvenientquestions.sg/Arch...ide-the-need-f


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