GE2025: Singaporeans living abroad share experience of voting overseas

Of the 2,758,846 registered voters for Polling Day, 18,389 are Singaporeans living abroad who have successfully registered as overseas voters, said the Elections Department (ELD) on April 18.

Among the latter, 8,630 will vote in person while the rest will do so by post.

On May 2, polling stations in Dubai, London, Washington, New York and San Francisco opened at 8am local time.

Registered voters in these locations have had the opportunity to cast their vote and some took to social media to document their unique experience voting from abroad.

One of them was TikTok user Rayner.chew who voted in the UK, where he is currently based.

"My first time exercising my citizen’s privilege, and sending lots of love back home from the UK!" the caption read.

Upon completing his lessons in Oxford, he made the trip to London, where the Singapore High Commission is located, to vote.

While he was unable to film inside the polling station, he described the voting process as "simple" noting that there was no queue.

TikTok user PeepeeTan, or Phoebe, is also based in the UK.

Being a first-time overseas voter, she found the experience "quite exciting".

Even while at a nearby cafe, Phoebe noticed the number of Singaporeans around, many likely on their way to vote.

"Honestly, the process was so fast. Also, I bumped into so many Singaporean friends that it felt like a reunion," she said.

Over in Chicago, a Singaporean known as Wheretheheckisyen on TikTok also shared her overseas voting experience.

She indicated her choice on the ballot paper before sealing it in an envelope and dropping it in a mailbox.

"The most difficult thing about this whole process was procuring the glue," she joked in the caption.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Lin (@linying._)

Linying is likely a familiar name to many Singaporeans with the singer-songwriter best known for her role in the 2021 National Day theme song, The Road Ahead.

Now based in Los Angeles, the 30-year-old made the trip to the Singapore Consulate-General in San Francisco to cast her vote this general election.

In an Instagram post on May 3, she wrote: "Fulfilling my national duty (13,574 kilometres away)."

Linying also shared a moment from the journey on her Instagram Stories — a photo of her car’s display screen, showing her getting patriotic with the classic tune Where I Belong by Singaporean singer Tanya Chua.

Across the Pacific in Shanghai, China, Edwin Ngoi documented his general election experience on Facebook on May 3.

At the Singapore Consulate-General, Ngoi observed fellow Singaporeans already queuing by 8am and noted that this general election appeared to draw more attention compared to previous cycles, even among Shanghai's community of overseas Singaporeans.

Ngoi added: "The collective commitment to shaping Singapore’s future — even from afar — underscored the strong ties many expatriates maintain with their homeland."

One of the more well-known figures to have voted from overseas is Lee Hsien Yang, son of Singapore's founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew.

Now based in the UK,  the 67-year-old wrote in a Facebook post: "I registered as an overseas voter and have cast my vote. I want my vote to be counted."

amierul@asiaone.com

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