SINGAPORE - Two men accused of tampering with election posters in separate incidents were charged in a district court on Wednesday (Nov 25).
The two Singaporeans - Lim Song Huat, 48 and Constantine Paul, 51 - were charged with offences under the Parliamentary Elections Act.
The general election in Singapore was held on July 10.
Lim, who faces three charges, was on a service road in Woodlands Street 13 at around 9.30am on July 3, during the campaigning period, when he allegedly used a black pen to draw a horizontal line across a People's Action Party (PAP) poster hung on a lamp post.
He is also accused of using his hands to tear a second PAP poster about 15 minutes later.
Lim is said to have then destroyed a third PAP poster by tearing it with his hands at around 9.47am.
Paul, who faces two charges, allegedly removed two Progress Singapore Party (PSP) posters from lamp posts in Bukit Batok East Avenue 5 at around 8pm on June 30.
In an earlier statement, the police said they had initiated investigations after officers came across an election poster belonging to the PSP at the bottom of a lamp post in Bukit Batok East Avenue 5 at about 1.50am on July 1.
Later that day, the PSP lodged a police report about another damaged party election poster on the same road.
In a Facebook post in July, PSP chief Tan Cheng Bock shared photos of the posters - featuring the party's slate for Chua Chu Kang GRC - lying on a grass verge.
He wrote: "In the heat of campaigning, our emotions can get carried away... Let's remember to keep cool heads."
The PAP team in Aljunied GRC had also posted on its Facebook page a picture of a torn PAP poster featuring its slate for the group representation constituency (GRC).
The court heard on Wednesday that Paul and Lim intend to plead guilty to their offences at their next court appearance on Jan 7 next year.
Under the Act, it is an offence for any person to alter, remove, destroy, obliterate or deface election posters or banners.
For each charge, an offender can be jailed for up to a year or fined up to $1,000.
