2023 Singaporean presidential election

2023 Singaporean presidential election

1 September 2023

Nominee Tharman Shanmugaratnam Ng Kok Song Tan Kin Lian Party Independent Independent Independent

Incumbent President Halimah Yacob Independent

Presidential elections are scheduled to be held in Singapore on 1 September 2023. Incumbent President Halimah Yacob, who was elected unopposed in 2017, has indicated that she does not intend to seek re-election. The winner is scheduled to be inaugurated on 14 September.

Background

See also: Presidential elections in Singapore

The president of Singapore is the head of state of Republic of Singapore. The incumbent president is Halimah Yacob, who took office on 14 September 2017. She is also the first female president in the country's history. The president of Singapore has the highest annual remuneration for the appointment of an executive president in the world at S$1.54 million or US$1.1 million and is subject to periodic White Paper reviews.

As Singapore's political system is modelled after the Westminster system that was first developed in England, the office is largely ceremonial, with the general direction and control of the Government exercised by the Cabinet led by the prime minister instead. Nevertheless, the presidency does has several crucial powers designed to safeguard the national reserves and the integrity of the civil and public service, and has far-reaching formal obligations and duty to act above party politics and partisanship. Such powers include withholding assent to any supply bill that is likely to draw on the reserves which were not accumulated by the Government during its current term of office and refusing to make or revoking appointments to public offices such as Chief Justice, Attorney-General, Chief of Defence Force and Commissioner of Police amongst others. The president also represents the country in official diplomatic functions and serves as its prestige.

The current system of conducting elections for the presidency began with the 1993 presidential election. Prior to that, the president was appointed by Parliament. There are strict requirements for prospective presidential candidates, and whether a candidate meets the qualifications or not is decided by the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC), who are given the task of issuing a certificate of eligibility (COE) to prospective candidates. In short, candidates must satisfy either the public sector or private sector requirements. The public sector requirement has an automatic track where the candidate has held either a designated public office or chief executive position of a key statutory board or government company. The private sector requirement also has an automatic track where the candidate has held the chief executive position of a company with S$500 million shareholder equity and net profitability (revised in 2016 from S$100 million paid-up capital). Not withstanding the automatic tracks of the aforementioned, candidates could also be qualified on a deliberative track where their abilities and experiences have been assessed by the PEC to be equivalent to either of the public or private sector automatic track requirements.

The presidency is required by the Constitution to be non-partisan. Following amendments to the Constitution, the 2017 presidential election was the first to be reserved for a particular racial community. It was first restricted to candidates from the minority Malay community, who had not held the presidency since 1970. The 2023 presidential election is opened to candidates of any racial community.

For this election, in-person rallies are discouraged by the Elections Department which did not designate any rally sites for this election. It stated that rallies may be divisive and not congruent with the nature of the unifying role of the presidential system. Candidate speeches will be televised on local television channels instead, while smaller elections meetings can still be held, albeit indoors or with cover for security reasons.

Election procedures

The incumbent President Halimah Yacob term of office is scheduled to end on 13 September 2023. Hence, there is a need to hold a presidential election within three months of its expiration, which began from 13 July 2023. Any Singaporean citizen who wishes to be a candidate in the election has to apply and receive a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) as well as a community certificate.

On 11 August, the writ of election was issued by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. In the writ of election, details of the Nomination Day was stated. Nomination Day will be held on 22 August 2023 at the People's Association (PA) headquarters situated at 9 King George's Avenue. The Returning Officer for this election is Tan Meng Dui, CEO of the Housing and Development Board (HDB). He will be serving his second election for this role after the 2020 general election.

By Nomination Day, all prospective candidates need to prepare their nomination papers. One must receive the COE, community certificate and political donation certificate. One also has to pay the election deposit of $40,500, which was lowered from the last election in 2017 of $43,500. The nomination paper must be signed by one's proposer, seconder and at least four assentors, and be handed to the Returning Officer between 11 a.m. to 12 noon on Nomination Day. On Nomination Day itself, the Returning Officer will announce the candidates running for the presidency. However, if only one candidate was successfully nominated, the election will be declared as a walkover and the sole nominated candidate will be the President-elect; otherwise, the Polling Day is adjourned to 1 September.

Campaigning will be held between 22 and 30 August. Following the day on 31 August is cooling-off day, the eve of Polling Day, where campaigning is prohibited to allow a period for voters to reflect on events before casting their votes. Polling Day will be held on 1 September, where polls are cast between 8.a.m. to 8.p.m.; the winner of the election will be inaugurated on 14 September. The election will see 2,709,455 eligible voters cast their votes, up from 2,653,942 from the most recent general election in 2020 and 2,274,773 from the last contested presidential election in 2011.

Electoral system

The president is elected by first-past-the-post voting (FPTP), with the candidate receiving the most votes winning the election.

This will be the first election whereby Singaporean citizens abroad will be able to exercise their voting rights by post. Prior to 2023, they may only vote in person at one of ten designated overseas polling stations, located in various places such as Australia (Canberra), China (three polling stations: Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai), Japan (Tokyo), the United Arab Emirates (Dubai), the United Kingdom (London) and the United States (three polling stations: New York City, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.).

Each citizen is assigned to an overseas polling station depending on where they live. Expatriate citizens are also assigned a polling station in Singapore, where they can vote in person if they happen to be in Singapore on election day. In 2023, an amendment to the Presidential Elections Act and Parliamentary Elections Act was tabled in Parliament that enables Singaporeans living abroad to vote by post in subsequent elections, giving them an additional option.

Candidates

ELD also announced that there were 16 Community Certificate applications, six of which (five Chinese and one Indian/other minority) were accepted.

Eligible

Candidates	Background	Application result
Tharman Shanmugaratnam	Tharman has served as Senior Minister, Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Deputy Chairman of GIC, and Chairman of the International Advisory Council of the Economic Development Board, and as a Member of Parliament for Jurong GRC's Taman Jurong division from 2001 to 2023. On 8 June 2023, Tharman announced that he would resign from all his positions in the government and as a member of the governing People's Action Party (PAP) on 7 July to run for the presidency. On 26 July 2023, Tharman launched his campaign and announced his team of assenters with a press conference at the York Hotel. On 7 August 2023, he submitted his application for a certificate of eligibility to the Elections Department.	Application for Certificate of Eligibility accepted.
Ng Kok Song	Ng is the founding partner and Chairman of Avanda Investment Management and former GIC Chief Investment Officer. He is serving on the advisory board of PIMCO, has served on the governing board of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and was the founding chairman of the Singapore Exchange. On 19 July 2023, he collected his application forms and announced his bid to run for the presidency. On 2 August 2023, Ng submitted his application for a certificate of eligibility to the Elections Department and announced that George Yeo will be one of his character references.
Tan Kin Lian	Tan is a former CEO of NTUC Income (1997–2007) and former branch secretary at Marine Parade GRC of the governing People's Action Party (PAP) for three years. He eventually left the PAP in 2008 after three decades of membership, due to his inactivity and disagreements with the party's values. Tan contested in the 2011 presidential election but lost by a large margin in a four-cornered contest, losing his deposit. On 31 July 2023, Tan announced that he has submitted his application for a certificate of eligibility to the Elections Department (ELD) on 11 July 2023. He added that he will wait for the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) to announce the final slate of approved candidates before deciding whether to submit his nomination paper. On 11 August 2023, Tan launched his campaign with Tan Jee Say and Lim Tean on his team of assenters. On 17 August 2023, Tan announced he will not submit his nomination forms if all four prospective candidates are eligible to run for the election, and that it was his plan the whole time.

Declared ineligible

Candidates	Background	Application result
George Goh Ching Wah	On 12 June 2023, Goh, the co-founder of Harvey Norman Ossia, confirmed that he would be running for president. He had previously been the Non-Resident Ambassador to Morocco, and is also the co-founder of the charity Border Mission. According to Goh, all the companies he owns or runs have a collective market capitalisation value of S$3.15 billion. On 4 August 2023, Goh submitted his application for a certificate of eligibility to the Elections Department. Goh was unsuccessful in the application and was not awarded the certificate.	Application for Certificate of Eligibility rejected.

Publicly expressed interest

• Lee Hsien Yang — Lee spent most of his career in the private sector, including being the CEO of Singtel and Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS). A prominent member of the Lee family, he is the youngest son of founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew and brother of current Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Lee is estranged from his brother over the 38 Oxley Road dispute and had previously endorsed the Progress Singapore Party in the 2020 Singaporean general election. Lee said during a telephone interview with Bloomberg in March 2023, "There is a view that depending on who they (referring to the People's Action Party) float, if I were to run they would be in serious trouble and could lose. A lot of people have come to me. They really want me to run. It's something I would consider." As of March 2023, both Lee and his wife, Lee Suet Fern, are currently on a self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom after being under investigation for lying during judicial proceedings. Lee did not collect his application forms from the Elections Department.
• Seng Soon Kia — Seng is a 72 year-old former woodworking teacher who collected his application forms at the Elections Department office on 13 June 2023. In an interview conducted by the media following his collection of his application forms, he claimed to have fulfilled the requirements in order to run as president.
• Teo En Ming — Teo is a 45 year-old information technology consultant who collected his application forms at the Elections Department office on 27 June 2023; he announced his presidential bid on TikTok. He expressed his admiration for Sun Yat-sen and Ong Teng Cheong, the fifth President of Singapore, and stated that he wished to be a "President for all" like them.

Declined to be candidates

• Halimah Yacob — the incumbent and eighth president of Singapore, announced on 29 May 2023, that she would not be seeking re-election after "careful consideration".

• George Yeo — Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2011 and Member of Parliament for Aljunied GRC from 1988 to 2004, ruled out a run for president after his defeat in Aljunied GRC during the 2011 general election. In 2022, he confirmed he would not run for the 2023 presidential elections.

Timeline

All dates reflected in this timeline are in Singapore Standard Time (SST).

Date	Event
May 2023
29 May	Incumbent President Halimah Yacob announces that she will not run for re-election in the 2023 presidential election.
June 2023
8 June	Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam puts himself forward as a candidate for the election, and announces that he will step down from all political positions on 7 July.
12 June	Harvey Norman Ossia chairman George Goh declares his intention to run for the presidency.
13 June	Applications for Certificates of Eligibility (COE) were made available. Two potential candidates, George Goh and Seng Soon Kia collect their application forms at the Elections Department.
27 June	Teo En Ming collects his application forms at the Elections Department.
July 2023
19 July	Ng Kok Song collects his application forms at the Elections Department.
26 July	Tharman Shanmugaratnam launches his presidential campaign, titled "Respect for All".
30 July	Tan Kin Lian reveals that he has submitted his forms for the Certificate of Eligibility.
August 2023
3 August	Ng Kok Song submits application forms for the Certificate of Eligibility.
4 August	George Goh submits application forms for the Certificate of Eligibility. He also launched his presidential campaign that afternoon.
7 August	Tharman Shanmugaratnam submits application forms for the Certificate of Eligibility.
11 August	Tan Kin Lian announces his official bid for the presidency, his second attempt since the 2011 election.
	Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong issues the Writ of Election, setting 22 August as Nomination Day, and 1 September as Polling Day if the election is contested. The Returning Officer for the election is Tan Meng Dui.
17 August	Deadline for applications for the Certificate of Eligibility.
18 August	Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Ng Kok Song, and Tan Kin Lian were issued Certificates of Eligibility. ELD also announced that 10 out of the 16 community declarations and three applications for COE, most notably of George Goh, were rejected.
22 August	On Nomination Day, Ng Kok Song, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and Tan Kin Lian were nominated.
22 to 30 August	Campaigning period

Future events

Date	Event
31 August	Cooling-off Day
1 September	Polling Day
13 September	Halimah Yacob's term of office expires.
14 September	Inauguration day

Candidate participation timeline

Candidate announcement and, if applicable, withdrawal dates are as follows:

Status
	Successfully nominated, currently running
	Currently running
	Expressed interest, yet to run
	Withdrawn/Did not qualify
Events
	Writ of Election issued
	Deadline for Certificate of Eligibility
	Nomination Day
	Presidential Candidate Broadcast 1
	CNA Presidential Forum
	Presidential Candidate Broadcast 2
	Polling Day
	Inauguration Day

Nomination Day

The nomination day was held on 22 August 2023 at the People's Association headquarters situated at 9 King George’s Avenue. The applications for the Certificate of Eligibility closed on 17 August 2023, and on the following day, ELD awarded the certificates to three candidates, Ng Kok Song, Tharman Shanmugaratnam and Tan Kin Lian. The election symbols of the candidates were revealed on the day and all three eligible candidates were officially declared as candidates.

Candidates' symbols and slogans

Candidate	Symbol	Description of symbol	Slogan
Ng Kok Song	File:Ng-Kok-Song-PE-2023-Symbol.svg	Hand with a heart shape at its palm	United for our future
Tharman Shanmugaratnam	File:Tharman Shanmugaratnam 2023 Election Symbol.png	Pineapple	Respect for all
Tan Kin Lian	File:Tan Kin Lian 2023 Election Symbol.png	Living in harmony	Bring back trust, give us hope

Television broadcasts

Date	Event
24 August	1st Presidential Candidate Broadcast
28 August	CNA Presidential Forum
30 August	2nd Presidential Candidate Broadcast