The electoral division of East Coast has been altered to include the island of Pedra Branca.
This was announced in a notice put up yesterday in the electronic Government Gazette.
The East Coast electoral division includes Bedok, Simei, Siglap and offshore islands Pulau Ubin and Pulau Tekong.
In a separate statement, the Elections Department (ELD) said Singapore's voter rolls are being updated and will be open for public inspection for two weeks towards the end of this month. When the time comes, it will provide information on how Singaporeans can check the registers of electors.
The Parliamentary Elections Act requires the registers to be revised no later than three years after every general election. It also provides for the Prime Minister to call for revisions from time to time.
The last general election took place in September 2015, while the next must be held by April 2021.
The registers of electors were last updated in June 2017, in preparation for the presidential election in September that year.
Any person who meets the following qualifying criteria as of yesterday will have his or her name included in the register of electors for an electoral division:
• is a Singapore citizen
• is aged 21 or above
• is not disqualified from being an elector under any current law
• has a Singapore residential address on his or her NRIC; or for those residing overseas, a local contact address registered with the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority for voting purposes.
Responding to queries on why Pedra Branca has been included in the electoral map, the ELD said: "All offshore islands that are part of Singapore's territory are included in our electoral map." These include Sultan Shoal off the coast of Jurong Island, and Kusu Island, which lies south-east of Sentosa.
The notice to include Pedra Branca comes after Malaysia withdrew an application in May last year to revise a 2008 judgment by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that awarded sovereignty of Pedra Branca to Singapore.
The withdrawal by Malaysia meant that it could no longer challenge Singapore's sovereignty of Pedra Branca, as the 10-year window provided for in the ICJ's Statute for an application for revision to be made had lapsed.
The small island of Pedra Branca - also known as Pulau Batu Puteh - houses the Horsburgh Lighthouse, and is located about 40km east of Singapore's main island. The lighthouse is unmanned.
