PE2023: How much does it cost for a candidate to run for president?

With their striking visuals and eye-catching text, campaign posters are a common sight during elections.

The battle to win each Singaporean's precious vote will also take place online.

But every poster adorning the streets during the campaign period, and even sponsored posts that plaster your social media pages, come at a price.

In the last contested presidential election in 2011, the four candidates — Tan Cheng Bock, Tan Jee Say, Tan Kin Lian, and eventual elected president Tony Tan — spent a whopping $1.3 million in total.

And let's not forget that each candidate has to shell out a five-figure deposit, which will be forfeited if they fail to garner a certain number of votes.

Even elections that end in walkovers can be pricey, just ask President Halimah Yacob. She spent around $220,000 in 2017.

Here's a breakdown of how much it costs for a candidate to run for president.

What's the limit each presidential candidate can spend on election expenses?

Candidates can spend up to $812,822.10 in election expenses for the upcoming presidential election, said the Elections Department (ELD) on Aug 12.

This amount is based on the maximum spending limit stipulated in the Presidential Elections Act, which is $600,000 or 30 cents per registered voter, whichever is greater.

The maximum limit for election expenses was set at $754,982 in the 2017 presidential election, and $682,431 in 2011.

More than 2.7 million people are eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, according to ELD in their updated voter roll as of July. 

This is an increase of over 55,000 people from the 2,653,942 electors in the last general election in 2020.

Candidates can also receive donations to cover their expenses.

Only Singapore citizens 21 years or older, or Singapore-controlled companies that carry out business wholly or mainly in Singapore, are allowed to make political donations.

How much did each candidate spend in previous presidential elections?

In 2011, the top spender was Tan Cheng Bock. The 83-year-old opposition politician spent $585,045.03 on his election campaign.

This was followed by Tony Tan ($503,070), Tan Jee Say ($162,337) and Tan Kin Lian ($70,912).

The cost of President Halimah's 2017 presidential campaign was $220,875 in total. She also raised $800,000 in donations.

The unused donations would be returned to the donors, according to her campaign team then. 

The other presidential hopefuls at that time — marine services firm chairman Farid Khan and property company chief executive Salleh Marican — spent $200,000 and $90,000 respectively.

What are the presidential hopefuls' projected expenditure?

Responding to AsiaOne's queries on Aug 14, Tan Kin Lian said that his projected expenditure for his election campaign this time round is between $50,000 and $150,000.

The 75-year-old added: "It depends on how many posters and materials I wish to put up."

For Tan, the expenses to run for president will come at a personal cost.

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Taking to Facebook on Aug 6, the former NTUC Income chief executive had lamented the "big sacrifice" he has to make.

He said: "I will have to spend a large sum of my personal savings in the presidential campaign.

"Am I not serious?"

Elaborating more about his post in replies to AsiaOne, Tan said that he has "never regretted" dipping into his coffers "to give people an opportunity to choose an independent president".

"I only take the result as a lesson to learn for the future," he said, adding that he hopes to raise $50,000 in donations.

Without providing specific figures, a spokesperson for Tharman Shanmugaratnam said that “Team Tharman” had seen the announcement by ELD and it plans to stay within the expenditure guidelines. 

AsiaOne had also reached out to fellow presidential candidate Ng Kok Song for more information about his projected expenditure but has yet to receive a reply as of writing.

How much is the deposit for the 2023 Presidential Election?

The election deposit that each candidate had to fork out for Nomination Day (Aug 22) was set at $40,500.

This amount is lower than the $48,000 in the last contested election, which Tan Kin Lian had lost in 2011 after his number of votes — 4.91 per cent of the total 2,274,773 votes — failed to garner more than one-eighth of the total number of votes cast in the election.

The deposit was $43,500 in the 2017 Presidential Election.

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chingshijie@asiaone.com