ELD Advises Parties & Candidates Not to Shout or Chant During Campaigning

Watch this video:

It’d be perfectly fine if this was filmed in 2015, but in 2020, when we’re in the midst of a pandemic?

Coronavirus be like

Needless to say, someone has to come out to shout, “Oei! Where’s your damn safe distancing?! Wear helmets cannot think is it?”

And so, our dear Elections Department stepped in to do the job.

ELD Advises Parties & Candidates Not to Shout or Chant During Campaigning

Today, the ELD released a media release, advising political parties and candidates to refrain from shouting or chanting party slogans during campaigning walkabouts.

And they’ve come out to talk about it as they’ve been alerted about incidents like the one you’ve seen in the earlier part of this video.

They said that it’s happened “across political parties and candidates.”

According to the campaigning rules, candidates should “take the necessary precautions, e.g. adhering to limits on group size, wearing masks, maintaining safe distancing, keeping all interactions and engagements transient (i.e. of short duration) and minimising physical contact, such as refraining from shaking hands. Candidates and political parties should also ensure that the members of the public they interact with adhere to prevailing safe distancing measures.”

Obviously that wasn’t the case based on what you saw above.

The ELD therefore said, “We seek the cooperation of political parties and candidates not to engage in the shouting or chanting of party slogans during campaigning. It is likely to draw a crowd, which makes it more challenging to ensure safe distancing. Shouting and chanting will also generate more droplets, and especially when done in a large group, significantly increases the risk of COVID-19 transmission.”

In other words, avoid doing things that’ll attract a crowd.

But what if members of the public are overzealous? I mean, if Tharman appears in East Coast in an unplanned move, people would go crazy over him.

ELD said, “Political parties and candidates are expected to remind any crowd that forms to comply with safe management measures. If members of the public do not comply with safe management measures, political parties and candidates should disengage, and leave the area.

“For example, shouting and chanting of party slogans, especially when done in the presence of opposing political parties and candidates and their supporters in a confined area. Political parties and candidates should exercise positive leadership and set a good example for the public.”

COVID-19 has really dampened the mood of an election.

Lest you’ve forgotten, polling day will be on this Friday (10 July). So what happens if you didn’t vote? Would you be jailed? Would you be barred from buying bubble tea for the next five years? Watch this video and you’ll know the consequences: