Charming the voters

Yulia Tymoshenko, Ph.D., former Prime Minister of Ukraine widely considered to be among the ranks of the hottest politicians
Photo courtesy of Elparadiso19

Usually our local elections revolve around bread and butter issues, track record in office for the ruling party candidates and other mundane political issues. Very rarely, do the topic of the most charming and photogenically appealing politicians ever gain media limelight, save for the occasional coffeeshop chatter or street market gossip. Yet, an interesting question we can ask ourselves is whether the candidate’s ability to charm the sexes can make a difference between victory and defeat here at the polls in Singapore.

The results of electoral polls in other countries have shown us that sex appeal do make a difference. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair was able to attract female voters in his landslide victory of 1997 and the return of his party to power in 2001. Media celebrities turning politicians is a rarity here, but it is a common occurrence elsewhere. Former media celebrities and even pornstars have made their transition to the political world, with varying degrees of success. Indeed, the hugely popular MAXIM has a section speculating on and selecting the hottest politicians around. Prominent names include Sarah Palin (US) and Maria Cafagna (Italy).

The ability of a candidate to charm voters wasn’t lost on the PAP. Teo Ser Luck is perhaps one who appeal to female voters, judging from the sentiments and feedback gathered online from female netizens. Featured on Singapore Tatler, the latter is also a hit among gay forummers at a prominent gay forum. Such eye-appealing candidates are also available within the opposition rank. Justin Ong, from the Reform Party is one, who attracted rave reviews from females who attended the party’s dinner just last year. So is Jaslyn Go from the Singapore Democratic Party, who proved to be a hit among some of the male voters.

Will appeal to sexes make a difference? Some believe that our electorate is a conservative one and eye-appeal count for nothing; yet there are others who believe otherwise. During a contest between a suave candidate and another well in his senior years, the conservative ones will believe that the former’s suaveness will count for nothing if the policies he offers on table is inferior to the latter. The others who believe in the power of sex appeal will opine that the suave candidate can make up for his shortfall in policy-making with his eye-appeal.

With a number of criticisms raised against the nature of GRC contests, seen from the opposite angle, it also provides us with an opportunity to test a potent combination – political astuteness with eye-appeal, a team of politically astute candidates strong in policy-making up in arms with colleagues possessing great eye appeal. The question is whether the eye-appeal part of the team will charm the voters sufficiently to make a difference.