In Singapore ,
every time we have an election, the campaign period is 10 days. This is the
minimum period needed and in recent memory, it has always been the case. Now I
know this is highly unusual in most countries. Most other countries have an
official election campaign period much longer than 10 days.
However, Australia
takes the cake Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard just announced that Australia will
go to the polls on Saturday 14 September. That’s means Australia will
have a whopping 8 months before the election. Some people in Australia are already joking these 8 months will be their pregnancy period!
Now I know in some countries, it is said that the election
cycle never ends but still…8 months? That’s a long, long time in politics. So
whereas Singapore is extreme
in the shortest, it seen that Australia
is on the other end of the extreme.
2 comments:
However this short period which in the past works for the incumbent is now a liability to it.
When you have only one source of news and info and it is managed well, your opponent had a hard time adjusting their strategy. Now with the internet, this short period works against the incumbent esp when your grassroots can't get the right info from the ground. When you realised it and need to change it is over. That is how PAP lost in PE. (sorry no space to elaborate on this.)
No, I agree with you. In GE 2011 and during the Punggol East be-election, I posted that it is in the PAP's interest to have a longer campaign period. This is especially so in Punggol East where Dr. Koh is a new face. If the PAP had given him a longer period for him get himself known to the residents, who knows?
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