The Most Amount Spent on Advertising Per Voter for GE2020 is PAP from Punggol-West & The Least is RDU from Jurong

Running a political campaign is a costly affair. 

We all know that political parties spend a lot of money during their election campaigns, but when it was revealed that they spent over $9 million in the lead up to GE2020, most of us fell off our chairs.

According to the Elections Department, the biggest spenders were the PAP, which is no surprise because they were contesting all 93 seats.

Coming in second and third were the Progress Singapore Party (PSP) and the Worker’s Party (WP) respectively.

In total, $9.2 million was spent in GE2020, a 30% increase from GE2015 where the parties spent $7.1 million.

So, does money really talk? Well, let’s see.

The Most Amount Spent on Advertising Per Voter for GE2020 is PAP from Punggol-West

Hearing that the PAP spent the most on election expenses per voter isn’t exactly a shock, considering they’re contesting in all constituencies.

The ruling party spent a total of $6.97 million in GE2020, which sounds like a staggeringly high amount, but only amounts to $2.63 per voter.

The most spent per voter by the PAP – $3.47 – was in the newly-formed Punggol West SMC, where PAP candidate Sun Xueling won 60.97% of the votes.

On the other hand, WP spent a total of $29,322, which amounts to around $1.10 per voter.

The least the PAP spent per voter was in Yio Chu Kang SMC, with $1.73. This amount was still more than their competition – PSP – who spent $1.26 per voter.

RDU Spent The Least Per Voter

Red Dot United might sound like a wealthy football club, but they only spent a total of $13,257 in the one constituency they were contesting in – Jurong.

This amounts to around $0.10 per voter, a paltry sum compared to the PAP’s $2.47.

You might be scratching your head at this point. Wasn’t there an independent candidate in GE2020? Surely RDU spent more than him?

The independent candidate, Cheang Peng Wah, who was contesting in Pioneer SMC, spent a total of $31,537.

This amounts to about $1.28 per voter, higher than most opposition parties.

PAP Spent Nearly Twice as Much as WP in Aljunied GRC

What’s interesting is that the PAP spent $401,178 in Aljunied GRC, which is nearly twice the amount spent by WP.

This means that the PAP spent around $2.66 per voter in the GRC, while WP spent $1.33.

However, as you know, the WP still beat out the PAP comfortably with 59.93% of the votes.

I guess money isn’t everything?

What Do Parties Spend Money On Anyway?

GE2020 was described as Singapore’s first true ‘Internet Election’, but the bulk of the parties’ expenditure was on print advertisements such as flyers or brochures.

According to The Straits Time, about $5.6 million is spent on print ads, more than twice the $2 million spent on online advertisements.

WP, for instance, successfully reached out to many people online, but they didn’t spend any money on online ads.

Instead, they spent almost $600,000 on print advertisements, which amounts to around 85% of their total expenditure.

Yes, even in the era of memes, Instagram stories, and YouTube speeches, print advertisement is still alive and kicking.

If you want to learn more the GE2020’s election expenses, you can check out this infographic.