SINGAPORE, Aug 18 — Three individuals are qualified as candidates for Singapore’s presidential election, announced the republic’s Elections Department (ELD) on Friday.
They are the former Group Chief Investment Officer of GIC Pte Ltd Ng Kok Song, former Chief Executive Officer of NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Ltd Tan Kin Lian, and former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam.
In a statement, ELD said at the close of applications for a Certificate of Eligibility on Thursday (August 17) at 5.30pm the Presidential Elections Committee had received a total of six applications.
The Department said the Committee had issued a Certificate of Eligibility to the three individuals.
ELD has also notified all three individuals of the outcome of their applications.
Singapore Presidential Election is set on September 1, while nomination day is on August 22 after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issued the Writ of Election on August 11.
President Halimah Yacob, whose term ends on September 13, had earlier announced she will not be running for a second term.
As for the unsuccessful applicants for a Certificate of Eligibility, ELD said they have also been informed of the outcome of their applications and the reasons for the Committee’s decision.
“Pursuant to regulation 11(2) of the Presidential Elections (Certificate of Eligibility) Regulations 2017, the Committee may only publish its reasons for rejecting an application in the circumstances set out in regulation 11(3), and must not do so outside of those circumstances.
“Hence, the Committee will not publish the reasons for rejecting the applications of the unsuccessful applicants,” it said.
ELD noted the names of unsuccessful applicants will not be published, in light of the concern expressed in the Report of the Constitutional Commission 2016 that potential applicants may be dissuaded from contesting the elections for fear of embarrassment.
However, the department said unsuccessful applicants would not be precluded from publishing the Committee’s reasons provided to them.
— Bernama