Singapore Announces 3 Names of Presidential Candidates Ahead of September 1 Election
Singapore Announces 3 Names of Presidential Candidates Ahead of September 1 Election. Singapore announced three names of presidential candidates who will compete in the general election election on Friday 1/9.
One of the candidates is former Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, the preferred candidate from the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP). The other two candidates are former chief investment officer at Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) Ng Kok Song, and former chief executive of insurance company NTUC Income, Tan Kian Lan.
Shanmugaratnam has so far been considered the candidate with the most support
He has resigned from the PAP, ahead of his candidacy for a non-partisan position. Later the elected candidate will replace Halimah Yacob, who currently serves as Singapore’s first female president.
Halimah was the only eligible candidate for the 2017 election, after parliament amended the constitution with the aim of bringing more ethnic diversity to the presidency. Singapore also requires a presidential candidate to serve as either a senior civil servant or chief executive of a company, with a minimum shareholder equity of 500 million Singapore dollars (equivalent to Rp. 5.6 trillion). Singapore’s government is run by a prime minister who is now led by Lee Hsien Loong. While the president who serves as head of state may not come from a political party.
About three-quarters of Singapore’s 3.5 million
citizens are ethnic Chinese, while the rest are of the ethnic Malay, Indian or Eurasian population. This year, elections are open to all ethnicities. More than 2.7 million Singaporeans will vote in the September 1 election, in the third presidential election since a 1991 law that gave the public the right to vote. Whatever the facts come out, this case will be brought to its logical conclusion. This is how we solve the problem,” continued Lee.
In Singapore, the minister’s monthly salary is at a high level of 55,000 dollars or the equivalent of Rp834 million. Meanwhile, the minister’s annual salary is $1.100.000 or the equivalent of Rp.16.6 billion, according to the Public Services Division.
