Looking at the press release from the Elections Department reveals several interesting points about the deposit that must be paid by each candidate standing for election:
According to the Parliamentary Elections Act, the deposit per candidate is 8% of the total allowances payable to an MP in the preceding year and rounded to the nearest $500.00. The deposit for a candidate shall, therefore, be $16,000.
The deposit this year is $16,000, up from $13,500 from the previous election. Since the deposit is pegged to 8% of the total allowance payed to an MP in the previous year, it follows that the average MPs pay has risen 18.5% in five years since the last election.
Given the way our world class MPs are apt to pat each other on the back and give themselves large raises for a "job well done", this increase should not be a surprise to anyone.
But the very idea of pegging the election deposit to 8% of an MP's pay means that each time they give themselves a raise, they are raising the bar of entry to opposition candidates at each election by increasing the deposit as well. $16k might be chump change for a PAP MP, but not so for your average opposition candidate. Smaller opposition parties will have to work hard to canvass funds to field say a 5 or 6 member GRC fight.
Devious, the lightning party.
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