AL election budget increases 20 percent

Tong Hio Fong

The Legislative Assembly (AL) election will have a bigger budget, Electoral Affairs Commission (CAEAL) president Tong Hio Fong said yesterday after the commission’s first meeting.

While the final figure for the budget has not been calculated, Tong suggested that an increase of 20 percent, in comparison to the last election in 2013, would be necessary.

“There are many reasons for this, including the growth in the number of voters, and also on the number of staff [necessary to handle all the work regarding the voting polls], as well as the addition of new hardware and software and the costs related to price inflation. All this influences the budget,” Tong said.

During the meeting, the president also confirmed the staff members who will be responsible for the secretariat, as well as all the works of organization and coordination.

The CAEAL also discussed production of the election guidebook, which is intended to aid residents’ understanding by summarizing the electoral law and procedures.

Tong declined to provide details on the guidebook content, stating that it was still in the stages of  “initial conception”.

The CAEAL further discussed its plans to add approximately three “reserve polls” to the 33 standard voting polls. According to Tong, these may be used when “weather or other conditions” such as flooding might disrupt the use of standard voting stations.

A topic of interest for many journalists was the official voting date, which was not announced.

“According to the [Election] law, the [setting of a date] is a duty of the Chief Executive, who must publish it at least 180 days in advance. We [the Commission] are focusing more on the preparatory works,” remarked Tong.

The Commission is expected to meet weekly.