Breakdown of Number of Citizens on Registers of Electors for General Elections held in 2011, 2015 and 2020
Prime Minister's OfficeSpeakers
Summary
This question concerns Ms He Ting Ru's request for demographic breakdowns of citizens on the Registers of Electors for the 2011, 2015, and 2020 General Elections. Minister Chan Chun Sing explained that registration is automatic for citizens aged 21 and above who meet residency requirements and are not disqualified under the Parliamentary Elections Act. He provided demographic data for the registers prescribed in 2011, 2015, and 2020, detailing those who met qualifying criteria versus those excluded. The response noted that eligible electors must maintain a Singapore residential or local contact address and not be otherwise disqualified by law. Finally, the Minister stated that the Elections Department does not track the duration for which individuals have been struck off the registers.
Transcript
2 Ms He Ting Ru asked the Prime Minister for each General Election held in 2011, 2015 and 2020 (a) what was the number of citizens (i) aged 21 and above, on the cut-off date for registration on the Registers of Electors and (ii) on the Registers of Electors, both numbers broken down by age band, gender and ethnicity; and (b) what was the number of citizens aged 21 and above not on the Registers of Electors, broken down by age band, gender, ethnicity and duration they have been struck off the Registers.
Mr Chan Chun Sing (for the Prime Minister): Under section 5 of the Parliamentary Elections Act, persons who are eligible to vote will have their names entered or retained in the registers automatically when the registers are prepared or revised. The Registers of Electors (REs) are compiled from records of NRIC holders kept by the Commissioner of National Registration by applying the qualifying criteria as set out below:
(a) is a citizen of Singapore;
(b) is not less than 21 years of age;
(c) is not disqualified from being an elector under any prevailing law; and
(d) (i) has a Singapore residential address on his NRIC; or
(ii) if he is residing overseas and has changed his NRIC address to an overseas address, has a contact address in Singapore registered with the Immigration & Checkpoints Authority (also known as a Local Contact Address).
For the General Elections (GEs) held in 2011, 2015 and 2020, the prescribed dates of the REs were 1 January 2011, 1 February 2015 and 1 March 2020 respectively. Table A below shows the total population of Singapore Citizens (SCs) aged 21 and above (a) as of the prescribed dates of the REs, (b) who met the qualifying criteria to be a voter and were included in the REs, and (c) the remaining SCs aged 21 and above who were not included in the REs. Further breakdown by age-bands, gender and ethnicity are in Tables B1 to B3.
The Elections Department does not track the duration an individual voter has been expunged from the REs.