Over SG$1.1m spent by presidential candidates on campaigns for PE2023

Over SG$1.1 million was spent across Singapore's three presidential hopefuls in the presidential elections 2023 this year with a majority of the funds going to advertising in the nine-day campaign period. 

President Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who won the elections on 1 September, ended up spending the most at SG$738,717. This was according to official candidate election returns that were put up publicly on the Election Department's website. 

Don't miss: FairPrice celebrates the elections and Teacher's Day with clever trendjacking post

Under Shanmugaratnam's spendings, SG$141,865 was spent on online election advertising while $481,226 was spent on non-online election advertising which included banners, fliers and posters that were put up island wide. 

He spent SG$284,820.68 on brochures that were printed and posted to households and SG$150,120 on election posters and banners that were put up island wide. 

He also received SG$800,000 in donation. The excess funds will reportedly be returned to donors in proportion to their donations. According to The Straits Times, all donors have decided to put their excess funds towards the President’s Star Charity.

Unlike Shanmugaratnam, former GIC investment chief Ng Kok Song chose to run a mostly online campaign. He spent SG$280,800 on online advertising and SG$1,059 on non-online ads.

The entirety of his online advertising budget was paid out to marketing, entertainment and talent agency Gushcloud which was brought onboard to work on Ng's campaigning efforts. 

Finally, former NTUC Income chief Tan Kin Lian, spent SG$71,366 in total for his campaigning efforts. He spent only SG$20 on online advertising and SG$69,478 on non-online advertising. 

He spent a large portion, SG$29,912, on printing 5,000 posters that were put up across Singapore. 

These details were made publicly available by the Elections Department and is the first time that the department is doing so virtually and at no charge.

Previously, those looking to review the financial documents had to do so in person and were charged SG$2 to view it. 

The returns will be available for the public to view till April 19, 2024, according to the department.

At the last presidential elections in 2017, former president Halimah Yacob spent SG$220,875 on her presidential campaign.

According to a report by Channel NewsAsia, SG$198,154 was spent on advertising and promotional materials.

The report added that Yacob’s biggest cost was in the 20,110 posters which cost around SG$73,000, inclusive of incineration costs.

Meanwhile, The Straits Times reported that SG$36,400 was spent on the 1.28 million postcards which would have been mailed out to households if the election had been contested. Next in marketing costs was a profile video of Yacob which amounted to SG$29,000. According to CNA, the video took six days to film.

Related articles:
More than just a symbol: Decoding the images for the presidential elections 2023
Why are brands trendjacking SAJC school elections in Singapore?Ng Kok Song to solely use social media in presidential campaign: Will the strategy work?