Powered by Blogger.

SDA man has highest GE expenses so far

As political parties count the cost of their recent election campaigns, the highest amount that has emerged so far is that of the Singapore Democratic Alliance (SDA) candidate for Punggol East, Mr Desmond Lim - the only candidate to lose his S$16,000 election deposit.

SDA secretary-general Desmond Lim's S$64,000 tab - about S$1.92 for each elector in the ward - excludes the deposit. The bulk of the money came out of his pocket, he told MediaCorp. 

Candidates are allowed to spend up to
S$3.50 per voter.

About two-thirds of Mr Lim's expenses went to printing flyers and posters, with the rest going towards volunteers' allowances, postage fees, rental of vehicles and the stage and sound set-ups for rallies.

Asked why his expenditure was relatively high-compared to, say, the Singapore People's Party's (SPP) ballpark figure of S$30,000 for its challenge in Bishan-Toa Payoh Group Representation Constituency (GRC), he said he did not have sponsors and had begun working the ground early. "So it may not be a fair comparison," he said.

Meanwhile, the SPP Bishan-Toa Payoh team said on Thursday that of the 25 cents they spent on each elector, half went to brochures, posters and banners. One-third went to rally costs, including site rentals.

"The SPP chose not to overdo our collaterals not just because of cost but in recognition of the need to be environmentally friendly," said team member Benjamin Pwee.

"(We) contributed the entire sum within the team, with the more economically able members chipping in more. There were donations from the public and also funds raised from sales of SPP buttons, flags and umbrellas. The team felt, nonetheless, that this money would be better used in helping the SPP grow over the next five years to contest General Election 2016."

The National Solidarity Party (NSP) also disclosed its campaign sums for two GRCs and one single ward.

Its Marine Parade candidate Nicole Seah - who recently called for donations via Facebook to defray costs incurred by her team and by Mountbatten candidate Jeannette Chong Aruldoss - said her team spent about S$39,000, while the Mountbatten campaign cost about S$25,000. 

NSP's Chua Chu Kang candidate Hazel Poa told MediaCorp her team spent S$65,000, or about 41 cents per voter.

The People's Action Party team in Tanjong Pagar, which was uncontested, was the first to file its election expenses last month. It chalked up about S$164,000, or about S$1.18 per elector in the GRC. (Additional reporting by Cheow Xin Yi and Dylan Loh)

19:14 | |

This entry was posted on 19:14 You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 

0 comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)
Blogger Tips and TricksLatest Tips And TricksBlogger Tricks
1 Share/Bookmark

Labels

Blogger Tips and TricksLatest Tips And TricksBlogger Tricks