GE2020 explainer: What exactly am I voting for when I cast my vote on Polling Day?

Election season is upon us and the time to vote is near. But as Polling Day approaches, you may ask yourself, what exactly am I voting for when I cast my vote? And how much does my one vote really matter?

Contrary to what you may think, much is at stake when you cast your vote.

You are voting for your MP

When you vote on Polling Day, you are voting for someone who will represent your constituency as a Member of Parliament (MP). 

Your MP essentially acts as a bridge between your community and the Government, and is supposed to ensure that your concerns are heard in Parliament.

On the ground level (one that is more applicable to your daily life), MPs hold weekly Meet-the-People Sessions (MPS), where you can raise any issues that you have in a one-on-one meeting with them. These could be utility bill payments, HDB apartments or reduction of traffic fines.

Your MP (and his or her team of volunteers) may write an appeal letter to the relevant parties on behalf of the resident that would hopefully help solve the issue.

In Parliament, your MP votes on matters such as supply and money bills, motions to remove the President and constitutional amendments, essentially laws of the country that will eventually impact you in one way or another.

You are voting for the person who runs your Town Council

Your MP also runs and manages your Town Council. Your Town Council controls, maintains and improves the common areas of the residential and commercial properties within its purview, keeping them in a good and serviceable condition. And properties in this instance include the gardens, lifts, corridors and void decks, areas that you frequent. 

The routine servicing and maintenance of lifts, who manages it? Your Town Council. Ensuring that the grass is cut and common areas in the neighbourhood are kept clean? Your Town Council. Arranging for a sufficient number of fitness corners or playgrounds near where you stay? Your Town Council. You get the idea, your Town Council takes care of many things in your neighbourhood.  

And a team is only as good as its leader. So your vote will determine how your Town Council — and your neighbourhood — is run.

You are voting for NCMPs in Parliament

While your vote primarily determines which MP is elected, it also indirectly decides who the Non-Constituency Members of Parliament (NCMP) are. What do we mean?

For example, you may vote for the Opposition party in your constituency but they failed to get elected as they don’t get the majority of the vote. However, your vote isn’t wasted and it still counts — well, at least indirectly. 

If the Opposition party contesting in your constituency has the highest percentage of voters among the other “losers”, there is still a chance that they may enter Parliament.

After all, NCMPs are determined by the best “losers” in the election and there will always be a minimum of 12 Opposition MPs (both elected MPs and NCMPs) in Parliament. 

ALSO READ: GE2020 explainer: What is an NCMP and what do they do?

While NCMPs do not look after specific constituents, from the next Parliament, they have the same voting rights as MPs and can debate issues in Parliament.

You are voting for the ruling party of the country

But most importantly, when you vote, you are voting for Singapore’s ruling party — the people who will run the country.

Similar to the UK, the Government in Singapore follows the Westminster system. If the majority of elected MPs are from the same political party, their leader is appointed Prime Minister of the country.

In the UK and Singapore, the Prime Minister is the Head of Government. Therefore, the ruling party of Singapore is the political party that wins the most seats in Parliament. 

This is not the case in every country. In the US, Congressmen, who represent people of their district by holding hearings and voting on legislation, aka the American equivalent of Singapore’s MPs, are chosen through an election. And they are also elected by states, which is similar to our SMC and GRCs. 

However, the head of the party with the most number of seats doesn’t automatically become the head of the country. The Head of Government in the US is the President and he or she is elected through the Electoral College system, a separate vote altogether.

TL;DR Your vote determines which political party runs Singapore. 

Are you a first-time voter or perhaps just not all too familiar with what happens during a general election? Click here to read everything you need to know about GE2020.

trining@asiaone.com