Candidates for Singapore’s next president remain elusive

SINGAPORE’S next presidential election is due by mid-September, but likely new candidates have yet to emerge, at least officially. Strict requirements, introduced at the last election in 2017, may well mean a future of walkovers for this supposedly elected role.

To be sure, many Singaporeans may welcome a second term for current president Halimah Yacob. She turns 69 in August – younger than her predecessors Tony Tan and S R Nathan were at the start of their first terms.

If she does run again, a contest might be preferable. The historical significance of Halimah’s presidency – as Singapore’s first female president and first Malay president since founding president Yusof Ishak – was arguably tarnished by her uncontested election and controversy about the country’s first reserved presidency.