No automatic by-election in our model of parliamentary democracy

Voices | No automatic by-election in our model of parliamentary democracy

No automatic by-election in our model of parliamentary democracy

Assistant Professor Eugene Tan's commentary "The value of a by-election" (Feb 20) argued that the Prime Minister does not have an unfettered discretion in deciding when to call a by-election and that the "default" position should be that a by-election should be automatic. Those two claims ignore the law and the reason behind the law. There is a reason the Singapore Constitution does not prescribe any time limit to call a by-election. Our parliamentary democracy is based on the principle that elections are fundamentally about voters choosing between different political parties to lead the country, rather than between individual candidates standing in a constituency. In general elections, the issue is which party should form the government. Hence, under our system, if any Member of Parliament (MP) resigns or is expelled from his party, he loses his seat because voters had el...

Full article: http://www.todayonline.com/Voices/EDC120224-0000035/No-au...

Tweets

@izreloaded » 24 Feb '12, 2pm
PAP MP says no automatic by-election in our model of parliamentary democracy. [link]
@TODAYonline » 24 Feb '12, 2pm
No automatic by-election in our model of parliamentary democracy: MP Hri Kumar Nair [link]
@singaporesurf » 24 Feb '12, 2am
No Automatic By-election In Our Model Of Parliamentary Democracy: Hri Kumar Nair, Today: Our parliamentary democracy... [link]
@NAR_sg » 24 Feb '12, 12am
When a seat falls vacant, there is no requirement to call an immediate by-election, unless the vacancy affects the... [link]
@ElectResult » 23 Feb '12, 10pm
No automatic by-election in our model of parliamentary democracy: In general elections, the issue is which party... [link]
@BloodyDemocracy » 23 Feb '12, 9pm
No automatic by-election in our model of parliamentary democracy [link]
@publichousesg » 24 Feb '12, 7am
"When a seat falls vacant, there is no requirement to call an immediate by-election, unless the vacancy affects... [link]
@AutoSalesSystem » 23 Feb '12, 10pm
No automatic by-election in our model of parliamentary democracy [link] [link]