Election spending in GE2025 outstrips GE2020; NSP president the biggest spender

Some $10.7 million was spent on campaigning for the 2025 General Election, with about three-quarters of candidates having reported their expenses to the Elections Department (ELD).

- Tham Yuen-C Senior Political Correspondent and Ang Qing Correspondent

This figure already exceeds the total spending of $9 million by all candidates at the previous polls in 2020.

As with previous elections, the bulk of the expenses this time, about $4.75 million, went towards non-online election advertising, such as the printing of posters, banners and fliers.

Another $2.01 million was spent on online election advertising, which includes posts on social media and websites, and the boosting of such posts.

With the return of physical rallies for the May 2025 election—after they were paused for the previous election due to the Covid-19 pandemic—candidates spent $1.33 million on holding these events.

These amounts were calculated based on the expenses of 164 out of the 211 candidates, most of which were uploaded to ELD's website on June 13 after their submissions were announced in the Government Gazette.