4.—(1) For the purposes of section 78A(1)(b) of the Act, only any of the following election advertising and no other may be published by any political party or any candidate or his election agent on what is commonly known as the Internet during the election period:| (a) | any photograph of any candidate or group of candidates or any drawing or illustration which purports to depict any such candidate or group of candidates or to be a likeness or representation of any candidate; | | (b) | any historical or biographical information about, and any manifesto or declaration of policies or ideology of, the political party or the candidate or group of candidates; | | (c) | any message by electronic mail that promotes or opposes any political party or the election of any candidate or group of candidates, including one that takes a position on an issue with which a political party or candidate or group of candidates, as the case may be, is associated, and that complies with paragraph (2); | | (d) | any newsletter, journal or other periodical publication of the political party; | | (e) | any advertisement or material for the recruitment of members or subscribers of a political party or for acquiring the services of volunteers or canvassers for a candidate or group of candidates, and that complies with paragraph (2); | | (f) | any announcement of any meeting or constituency visit held or to be held by or on behalf of a candidate or group of candidates or the political party; | | (g) | any facility where persons can communicate with each other in real time through text messages (commonly known as a chat room) or post articles or letters for discussion or comment (commonly known as a discussion forum) and the provision and maintenance of which complies with the requirements in regulation 5; | | (h) | any electronic cross-reference on a web page (commonly known as a hypertext link) that links the web page directly to any other web page that either does not contain any election advertising or that contains election advertising the publication of which complies with these Regulations and is not proscribed by the Returning Officer. |
(2) Any message by electronic mail referred to in paragraph (1)(c) and every advertisement or material referred to in paragraph (1)(e) that is sent by electronic mail —| (a) | shall contain a clearly and conspicuously displayed functioning electronic mail address to which the recipient of the electronic mail message, advertisement or material may send a reply to the sender of the message, advertisement or material to indicate a desire not to receive further such messages, advertisements or materials from that sender at the electronic mail address at which the message, advertisement or material, as the case may be, was received; and | | (b) | shall not contain any statement or matter requesting, appealing to or encouraging (expressly or otherwise) the recipient of the electronic mail message, advertisement or material to forward, re-transmit or further publish on what is commonly known as the Internet the electronic mail message, advertisement or message to any other person. |
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| (3) If a recipient of any electronic mail message, advertisement or material containing election advertising referred to in paragraph (1)(c) or (e) makes a request to the sender of such message, advertisement or material, through an electronic mail message sent to a functioning electronic mail address provided under paragraph (2), not to receive further electronic mail messages, advertisements or materials, as the case may be, containing election advertising from the sender, the sender shall not send or further send or cause to be sent or further sent any such electronic mail message, advertisement or material during the election period to the recipient’s electronic mail address without the prior express consent of the recipient. |
(4) For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this regulation shall permit any of the following to be published by any political party, or any candidate or group of candidates or their election agents, on what is commonly known as the Internet during the election period:| (a) | any election survey within the meaning of section 78C of the Act; | | (b) | any appeal to members of the public or any class thereof to give money or other property (whether for consideration or otherwise) which is made in association with a representation that the whole or any part of its proceeds is to be applied for the objects or activities of any political party or for the promotion of any candidate or (as the case may be) group of candidates at an election; and | | (c) | any facility enabling any member of the public or any class thereof to search for election advertising the publication of which contravenes these Regulations or is proscribed by the Returning Officer. [S 129/2011 wef 14/03/2011] |
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| (5) Every political party, and every candidate or group of candidates and his or their election agents shall use its or their best efforts to ensure that any election advertising they publish or cause to be published is published in conformity with this Part and any other written law. |
(6) For the purposes of this regulation —| (a) | “functioning electronic mail address”, in relation to any electronic mail message, advertisement or material, means an electronic mail address that — [S 129/2011 wef 14/03/2011] | | (i) | remains capable of receiving messages for not less than 14 days after the transmission of such electronic mail message; and [S 129/2011 wef 14/03/2011] | | (ii) | has capacity, reasonably calculated in the light of the number of recipients of the electronic mail message, advertisement or material, to enable it to receive the full expected quantity of reply messages from such recipients; and [S 129/2011 wef 14/03/2011] | | (b) | an electronic mail address shall not cease to be a functioning electronic mail address by reason only of a temporary inability to receive electronic mail messages due to technical problems, provided steps are taken to correct such technical problems within a reasonable time and without delay. [S 129/2011 wef 14/03/2011] |
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