Six presidential hopefuls have submitted applications for the upcoming presidential election, confirmed the Elections Department on Thursday (Aug 17).

The deadline for the applications closed at 5.30 pm on Thursday.

The Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) has up to Aug 21, the eve of Nomination Day, to announce its decision on which applications are successful.

Singaporeans will go to the polls to elect their ninth President on Sept 1 if more than one person qualifies.

There were also 16 applications for the community certificates.

While the upcoming presidential election is not reserved for any particular race, candidates still have to obtain a community certificate to determine when the next reserved election will be.

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Four presidential hopefuls have publicly made known their run for the office: former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, 66; entrepreneur George Goh, 63; former GIC investment chief Ng Kok Song, 75; and former NTUC Income chief Tan Kin Lian, 75.

Of these, Tharman is the only hopeful to automatically qualify, having fulfilled the public sector service requirement with his ministerial portfolios.

The PEC has the discretion to allow candidates to stand for election if it is satisfied that they have comparable experience and ability to someone who meets the direct requirements.

Ng, who is also applying through the public sector route, falls short of the requirement of being the chief executive of a Fifth Schedule entity.

For Goh and Tan, who are applying under the private sector route, it is also uncertain if they will qualify.

Goh has stated that he helms five companies, which have a combined average shareholder equity over the past three years of S$507 million.

Under the private sector route, one of the requirements is that the candidate has to be the most senior executive of a single company with an average of S$500 million in shareholder equity over the last three years.

Tan, who in 2011 qualified to run in the presidential election, managed the then-cooperative NTUC Income. He has stated that NTUC Income met the S$500 million threshold in his last three years there before he retired in 2007. THE STRAITS TIMES