SINGAPORE: Three individuals are qualified as candidates for Singapore’s presidential election, announced the republic’s Elections Department (ELD) 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 (Aug 17) at 5.30 pm the Presidential Elections Committee had received a total of six applications.
The Department said the Committee has 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 Sept 1 while Nomination Day is on Aug 22 after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issued the Writ of Election on Aug 11.
President Halimah Yacob, whose term ends on Sept 13, had earlier announced that she will be not 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ELD noted that the names of unsuccessful applicants will also not be published, in light of the concern expressed in the Report of the Constitutional Commission 2016 that potential applicants may be dissuaded from stepping forward to contest the elections for fear of embarrassment.
However, the department said unsuccessful applicants will not be precluded from publishing the Committee’s reasons provided to them. – BERNAMA
