Running unopposed in an ethnically ‘reserved’ poll, can Singapore’s next president bring citizens together?
Halimah Yacob, the last candidate standing after two disqualified, will be the city state’s first ever female head of state, and only second Malay since independence
Election officials on Monday confirmed intense speculation that Singapore’s presidential poll will be a one-horse race, as it disqualified two contenders and approved a government-backed candidate who looks set to be the city state’s first ever female head of state.
Halimah Yacob, who was speaker of parliament until she resigned in August, was the only one of three candidates to get a “certificate of eligibility” to run in the September 23 election, that had been reserved only for ethnic Malays.
That means there will be no election, and Halimah is set to be declared president-elect soon after nominations close at noon on Wednesday.
The two others, businessmen Farid Khan and Salleh Marican, did not meet key criteria set for presidential candidates.
The presidency is largely ceremonial but has some veto powers on the appointment of key government positions and the use of Singapore’s financial reserves.
Ordinarily, a victory by a woman – and a devout Muslim who wears a head-covering hijab in the secular, Chinese-majority state – would be considered a breakthrough. But her impending win has been controversial.