Issuance of Political Donation Certificates During Elections

Assoc Prof Tan Kheng Boon Eugene asked the Prime Minister (a) what are the reasons for the Elections Department (ELD) opting to reveal only the number of political donation certificates issued to eligible applicants in parliamentary or presidential elections; and (b) whether, in the interest of transparency in the electoral process, ELD will revert to the previous practice of revealing the identities of applicants who have been issued political donation certificates rather than leaving it to the individuals to indicate whether they have received such a certificate.

One of the requirements under the law for any person who desires to be a candidate at a parliamentary or presidential election, is to submit to the Returning Officer on Nomination Day a Political Donation Certificate (PDC) issued by the Registrar of Political Donations. The PDC certifies that the person has complied with the requirements under the Political Donations Act by sending a donation report and declaration in the prescribed forms to the Registrar of Political Donations.

In response to media queries during the by-election for Hougang Constituency in 2012, ELD released the names of individuals who had received the PDCs. This however led to some complaints received from persons who felt that since ELD is not legally bound to divulge such specific information, it should not do so but leave it to the judgement of the candidate and/or his party to decide when and how they choose to do so.

In view of this, ELD reviewed its position on the matter. As there is no legal requirement for it to do so, ELD will not release the names of individuals who have applied for or received the PDCs. ELD will leave it to individual applicants to decide whether to and when to make public that they have applied for or received a certificate. This position was adopted for the by-election for Punggol

Page: 100

East Constituency in 2013, and in response to media queries, ELD only released the total number of applications and total number of PDCs issued. This position will continue to apply to all future parliamentary elections.