Singapore's Straits Times probed over voter 'poll'
Police said today they were investigating Singapore’s top daily newspaper The Straits Times over a voter survey it conducted ahead of a by-election in apparent breach of a law against polls during the campaign.
Police said today they were investigating Singapore’s top daily newspaper The Straits Times over a voter survey it conducted ahead of a by-election in apparent breach of a law against polls during the campaign.
The January 26 by-election is for a seat left vacant when the former speaker of parliament, Michael Palmer, stepped down after confessing to an extramarital affair.
The Singapore Elections Department said an article published by the English-language newspaper on Thursday, a day after the election was called, was “currently being looked into by the police”.
Police confirmed the investigation.
The Straits Times disclosed the investigation on its website late yesterday and said it would cooperate in any police probe.
The headline for our story overstated the significance of the information gathered by calling it a poll. We are sorry for this lapse
The broadsheet’s Thursday issue carried a report on a poll it conducted among 50 residents in the contested ward. The article was headlined “ST poll: More rooting for PAP”. The PAP, or People’s Action Party, has been in power since 1959.