a day ago
Elections Dept: Singapore's GE2025 campaign bill tops S$13m, up 42pc from 2020
SINGAPORE, June 29 — Candidates contesting Singapore's 2025 General Election collectively spent more than S$13 million (RM43 million), with close to half of the expenditure going towards traditional, non-digital advertising such as banners and posters, according to final figures released by the country's Elections Department (ELD) on Friday.
Physical rallies, which returned this year after being suspended during the Covid-19 pandemic, accounted for about S$1.7 million — or 13 per cent — of total spending.
Online advertising made up around 16 per cent, while the remainder went towards logistical and operational costs such as office rentals, transport and supplies.
Overall spending surged by 42 per cent compared to the 2020 General Election, where candidates spent a total of S$9.2 million.
The ruling People's Action Party (PAP), which fielded candidates in all 97 seats, spent the most — S$9.4 million.
In contrast, the 10 Opposition parties and two Independent candidates collectively spent S$3.6 million.
Among the Opposition, the Workers' Party was the top spender, declaring S$1.6 million for its 26 candidates.
The Singapore Democratic Party followed with S$583,440 for 11 candidates, and the Progress Singapore Party spent S$441,548 for its slate of 13.
All parties remained within the legal spending cap of S$5 per voter, a limit that was raised from S$4 in 2020 to account for inflation.
A total of 211 candidates contested the May 3 election.
The complete set of expense declarations was made available for public inspection on the ELD website on June 27.
