2023 Singaporean presidential election
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The 2023 Singaporean presidential election is scheduled to be held no later than 13 September 2023.
Background
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.
Modelled after the Westminster system, the office is largely ceremonial, with the general direction and control of the Government exercised by the Cabinet led by the prime minister. However, the president has several powers designed to safeguard the national reserves and the integrity of the public service. 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.[2][3]
The current system of conducting elections for the presidency began with the 1993 presidential election and the swearing-in of Ong Teng Cheong. Prior to that, the president was appointed by Parliament.[4]
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.[5]
The presidency is required by the Constitution to be non-partisan.[6] Following amendments to the Constitution of Singapore, the next presidential election will be open to candidates of any racial community. The 2017 presidential election was the first to be reserved for a particular racial community under a hiatus-triggered model,[7] and was restricted to candidates from the minority Malay community, who had not held the presidency since 1970.[8][9]
Electoral system
The president is elected by first-past-the-post voting, with the candidate receiving the most votes winning the election.[10]
Candidates
Declined
| Candidates | Background |
|---|---|
| George Yeo | Former Minister for Foreign Affairs and MP for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (Aljunied GRC), initially ruled out a run for president or any form of elected office after his defeat in Aljunied GRC during the general election. He said "I'm a bit of a free spirit, I like to talk, I like to speculate... Sometimes I'm politically incorrect in the things I say. Now that I'm in semi-retirement, I relish and cherish this freedom." |
References
- ^ "Presidential Elections Act 1991 - Singapore Statutes Online".
- ^ Constitution, Arts. 148A and 148D.
- ^ Constitution, Art. 22.
- ^ Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 1991 (No. 5 of 1991), in force on 30 November 1991 except for sections 7 and 16 which came into force on 1 February 1991 and s. 3 which was not brought into force and was subsequently repealed by the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore (Amendment) Act 1996 (No. 41 of 1996).
- ^ Zhu, Melissa; Baker, Jalelah Abu (31 May 2017). "Applications for Presidential Election to open Jun 1". Channel NewsAsia. Retrieved 27 August 2017.
- ^ "Constitution, Art. 19(2)(f)".
Art. 19(2)(f). A person shall be qualified to be elected as President if he is not a member of any political party on the date of his nomination for election;
- ^ "Elected Presidency: Amendments to Constitution passed in Parliament". Channel NewsAsia. 9 November 2016. Retrieved 13 September 2017.
- ^ Yong, Charissa (8 November 2016). "Parliament: 2017 presidential election will be reserved for Malay candidates, says PM Lee". The Straits Times. Archived from the original on 6 August 2017. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
- ^ "Only one Singaporean is fit to be president". The Economist. 13 September 2017. Retrieved 14 September 2017.
- ^ Republic of Singapore: Election for President IFES
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