Election Department begins recruiting officers

THE guessing game over Singapore's next general election continues as the Elections Department said that it had started appointing assistant returning officers to conduct the polls, which is due by February 2012.

The department's chief, Mr Lee Seng Lup, told Channel NewsAsia on Friday that it needs 1,300 assistant returning officers and it is sending out notification letters in batches to inform those affected. So far, 900 have been notified.

The department also requires another 26,000 officers for roles such as presiding officers and counting assistants. Some 20,000 of these officers have been notified so far.

The officers are organised into nine contingents, each under the charge of a contingent leader who is designated as the group assistant returning officer (Garo).

Among other things, the notification letter informs an officer of the contingent he belongs to and the URL of the computer systems he can log onto for more information to access the e-learning programme. The officers will be trained on their specific roles and duties. These include their legal powers and activities leading to Nomination Day and Polling Day.