Legal Issues Arising Out of Singapore’s GE2020

Panel Discussion on legal issues arising from Singapore’s 2020 General Election that was held on 10 July 2020

1. Eugene Thuraisingam Was One of the Speakers from Various Legal Industry Sectors

Earlier this week on 23 November 2020, our managing partner, Eugene Thuraisingam was invited by the Public and International Law Committee, Law Society of Singapore, to join a distinguished panel of speakers to share his views in a webinar, titled “Legal Issues Arising out of GE2020”.

2. The Webinar

The webinar examined the constitutional and legal issues arising from Singapore’s 2020 General Election that was held on 10 July 2020. In Professor Kevin YL Tan’s keynote address, he highlighted the following four issues arising from the conduct of the election:

a) the executive discretion in the delineation of electoral boundaries and its exercise;
b) the extension of the time allowable for voting by two hours on Polling Day;
c) the exercise of Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) powers by the authorities during the campaign period; and
d) the creation of the new office of Leader of the Opposition.

The opening remarks were delivered by Mr Prakash Pillai, Chairperson of Public and International Law Committee, The Law Society of Singapore. Our Mr Eugene Thuraisingam spoke alongside the distinguished panellists, included (1) Mr Edwin Tong, SC of Minister for Culture Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law; (2) Mr Hri Kumar Nair, SC, Deputy Attorney-General of Attorney-General’s Chambers; (3) Mr Choo Zheng Xi (Remy), Director of Peter Low & Choo LLC; (4) Mr Eugene Tan, Associate Professor of Law of School of Law, Singapore Management University; and (5) Dr Kevin Tan, Adjunct Professor of Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore; Visiting Professor, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, National Technology University. The panel discussion was moderated by Professor Goh Yihan, Dean, School of Law, Singapore Management University. A vote of thanks by Dr Michael Hwang, SC, Vice-Chairperson of Public and International Law Committee, The Law Society of Singapore, concluded the webinar.

3. Conclusion

We hope that the participants found the webinar to be insightful and gained a better understanding on the legal issues arising from Singapore’s 2020 General Election.