Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has issued the Writ of Election for the Presidential Election, naming Sep 13 as Nomination Day. If we’re lucky to have more than one person who qualifies to run for the position of Singapore’s president, the polling day will be held 10 days later, on Sep 23.
As reported, debated and written about in various think pieces, the upcoming presidential election will only be reserved for Malay candidates, due to the implementation of a “hiatus-triggered” model, said to ensure multiracial representation in the highest office in the land. According to a press release by the Elections Department, the nomination place will be the auditorium of the People’s Association along King George’s Avenue.
Currently, there are only three big contenders who’ve publicly indicated that they’ll be running for president. There’s Bourbon Offshore Asia Pacific chairman Farid Khan. There’s Second Chance Properties founder and CEO Mohamed Salleh Marican. And, of course, there’s (former) People’s Action Party stalwart Halimah Yacob, who recently stepped down from her roles as Speaker of Parliament and a Member of Parliament for the Marsiling-Yew Tee GRC.
Of the three, Halimah is considered the forerunner in the race since she meets the required eligibility to run. She fulfils the public sector requirement of serving at least three years in office.
Both Farid and Salleh reportedly fall short of fulfilling the qualifications for private sector candidates, who are required to have run a company with at least $500 million in shareholder equity. Salleh’s investment holdings and retail firm had equity of between $254.3 million and $263.25 million over the last three financial years; Farid’s Bourboun Offshore Asia has a reported shareholder equity of USD300 million.
Nonetheless, both the potential private sector candidates have already submitted their applications to the Presidential Elections Committee and Community Committee. Should they turn out to be qualified, they — alongside Halimah Yacob — can campaign up to a day before Cooling Off Day, which falls on the eve of elections day.
“I hope Singaporeans will support the candidate who will best represent their interests and aspirations, and our nation,” wrote PM Lee in a Facebook post. “Not just at home, but internationally too.”
The reserved presidential election isn’t without controversy. The popular presumption is that the ruling government initiated the changes in the constitution to prevent former presidential candidate Dr. Tan Cheng Bock from running again, especially since he very nearly beat PAP stalwart Dr. Tony Tan in 2011.
Dr. Tan Cheng Bock even filed a court application, arguing that the five-term count for the reserved election should begin with Ong Teng Cheong (the first democratically elected president) instead of Wee Kim Wee (the first president to to be vested with the powers of an elected presidency, according to the government). Dr. Tan contended that the government should only start counting from Ong, so that there would only be four terms — thereby, no need for a reserved election.
But Dr. Tan lost his case in High Court, as well as his appeal against the outcome. Opposition politician Sylvia Lim of The Workers’ Party will continue his fight in Parliament, having recently filed an adjournment motion on the upcoming reserved presidential election.
