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IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE [2019] SGCA 25 Civil Appeal No 73 of 2018 Between WONG SOUK YEE … Appellant And ATTORNEY-GENERAL … Respondent In the matter of Originating Summons No 1034 of 2017 Between WONG SOUK YEE … Applicant And ATTORNEY-GENERAL … Respondent JUDGMENT

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Wong Souk Yee v. Attorney General

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether the Prime Minister had a duty to fill the vacancy in a Group Representation Constituency.

Alleged Acts: On August 7, 2017, a member of Parliament resigned to stand for the presidential election and no by-election was called to fill the position. The Constitution imposes a duty on the Prime Minister to call a by-election to fill an vacancies of elected members. Each GRC must have at least one member of parliament.

Procedural history: The appellant filed suit seeking that the remaining members of the MYT GRC vacate their seats and a by-election be held or a declaration that art. 24(2A) void for inconsistency with the Constitution art. 49(1).

Summary: The court stated that the amended regulatory framework was considered as applied to the current framework and not as an independent and new framework. Thus, the court analyzed whether the construction of the statutes must be updated. The court determined that art. 49(1) referred to the seat of a particular member and not to the entirety of the political party. Ultimately ,the court of appeals did not provide a definitive opinion, but stated that even though there was not an existing constitutional avenue did not mean that there was no obligation.

Conclusion: The court dismissed the appeal and stated that the lack of an express provision for filling vacancies in the GRC did not meant that they could be vacant without the need to call a by-election. The court stated that Parliament could potentially close this gap through an amendment to the constitution.

Legal Issue(s)

Electoral Integrity
EMB Independence

Region: Asia-Pacific

Country: Singapore

Language of Decision

English

Court: Appellate Court

Election Type: Review of law

Date of decision: Apr 10, 2019

Geolocation

Latitude: 1.289765826

Longitude: 103.8511735

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

wong-souk-yee-v-attorney-general-2019-sgca-25-(100419)-pdf.pdf
english
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