An auntie was spotted wearing a t-shirt with pineapples on them when she turned up at a polling station in Singapore to vote in the presidential election, according to a report by Lianhe Zaobao and MustShareNews.
A photo of the incident was shared online, on the Xiaohongshu social media platform earlier this morning (1 September), which is the polling day.
The post captioned that the woman was made to “u-turn” and go home to change out of her outfit, and Zaobao also reported that the auntie was turned away from the polling station.
Reason for it is because the pineapple is presidential candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s campaign symbol, and voters are not allowed to wear any clothing to endorse any candidates.
According to the guidelines set out by the Elections Department (ELD), there is no campaigning or election advertising allowed on the Cooling-off Day, from 31 August until the end of Polling Day (1 September) at 8pm.
Election Department’s guidelines
COOLING-OFF DAY AND POLLING DAY
FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2023
1 September 2023 is Polling Day for the Presidential Election 2023. The day before Polling Day, 31 August 2023, is Cooling-off Day.
No campaigning or election advertising on Cooling-off Day (Thursday, 31 August 2023) and Polling Day (Friday, 1 September 2023)
- The period starting from Cooling-off Day (Thursday, 31 August 2023), 12am, and ending with the close of polling on Polling Day (Friday, 1 September 2023), 8pm, is called the “cooling-off period”.
- Campaigning activity and election advertising, including the publishing, display of or wearing of clothing with a candidate’s symbols, are not allowed during the cooling-off period. This is to give voters time to reflect on their choice for President.
- Election advertising refers to any information that can reasonably be regarded as intended to promote, procure or prejudice the electoral success of a candidate or to otherwise enhance or prejudice the standing of a candidate.
- Campaigning activities and election advertising which are prohibited during the cooling-off period include:
- publishing paid and unpaid Online Election Advertising (OEA) -this includes sharing, resharing, reposting or boosting of existing OEA, as well as broadcasting of online meetings accessible to the public;
- publicly displaying non-online election advertising – this includes relocating, altering or modifying existing non-online election advertising.
Non-online election advertising includes traditional election advertising such as a banner, flag or poster; - canvassing, walkabouts, door-to-door visits, visiting homes and workplaces of voters for election-related purposes;
- holding any form of public assemblies or meetings (whether online, in person, or both) which engage election issues; and
- wearing, using, carrying or displaying a candidate’s allotted symbol or campaign propaganda (with the exception that the candidate is allowed to wear a replica of the symbol allotted to him).
- On Polling Day, voters should refrain from wearing attire with images, or carrying with them items to the polling station, that may be construed as influencing other voters or canvassing support for any particular candidate. If they do so, they may be turned away by election officials at the polling stations. Examples include (but are not limited to):
- shirts, clothing, bags, or badges with prints on them that are identical to or closely resemble a candidate’s allotted symbol, or bear words that may be interpreted as showing support to a candidate; and
- objects that are identical to or closely resemble a candidate’s symbol and would likely be associated with a candidate by the public
ELD’s response
“A woman wearing an attire with pineapple motifs turned up at one of the polling stations at Woodlands Ring Primary School this morning.
She was advised by an election official to change her attire in line with ELD’s earlier advisory that voters should refrain from wearing attire with prints on them that are identical to or closely resemble a candidate’s allotted symbol to polling stations. The voter obliged and returned to cast her after changing her attire.”