Singaporean presidential election, 2005

Singaporean presidential election, 2005
Singapore
17 August 2005
 
Nominee S.R. Nathan
Party Independent
Popular vote Uncontested
President before election

S.R. Nathan
Independent

 Elected President

S.R. Nathan
Independent

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The Singaporean presidential election of 2005 was held to elect the President of Singapore. The incumbent S. R. Nathan's first term was to end on 31 August 2005. The Writ of Election declared 17 August to be Nomination Day, and 27 August would have been declared Polling Day if more than one candidate were to stand nominated on Nomination Day.

After considering the candidates' applications, the Presidential Elections Committee issued a Certificate of Eligibility to Nathan, but declined to do so for the other candidates.[1] On Nomination Day, Nathan was the only candidate to stand nominated. He was re-elected, and was sworn-in for his second term of office on 1 September 2005.

Candidates

21 application forms for the Certificate of Eligibility required to contest were collected, and forms were submitted by four candidates.

The applications were reviewed by the Presidential Elections Committee, which consisted of:

The Returning Officer was Tan Boon Huat, the Chief Executive Director of the People's Association.

Eligible

Declared ineligible

On 9 August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for all candidates to be open about their records, so that Singaporeans could make an informed judgment on them. He also encouraged Andrew Kuan's former employers to come forward, speak freely and tell Singaporeans what they knew about him.[4]
On 11 August, Kuan's former employer, JTC called a news conference to provide details on the circumstances leading to Kuan's resignation in July 2004. Chong Lit Cheong, chief executive officer of JTC said that Andrew Kuan's work at JTC had been unsatisfactory since his first year there and he had been asked to resign twice in 2003 and 2004. No details as to how his work was unsatisfactory were provided, other than a note that no fraud or other crime was involved, and he needed "quite a fair bit of hand holding". In reply, Kuan noted that he had worked at JTC Corporation for 37 months, which had extended his contract several times, and he had been given performance bonuses and a raise during this period. Another company, Hyflux, also publicly criticised Kuan.[5]
Later, Kuan was disqualified by the Presidential Elections Committee for failing to meet the criteria for running for president. The committee said Kuan's seniority and responsibility as JTC's chief financial officer were not comparable to those required by the Constitution. A presidential candidate is required to have had experience as the chairman or CEO of a statutory board, or of a company with a paid-up capital of at least $100 million (Singaporean dollars).

Results

 Summary of the 17 August 2005 Singapore presidential election results
Candidate Votes
S. R. Nathan Without ballot

Media coverage and public opinion

The unopposed nature of President Nathan's candidacy has sparked debates in Singapore about the country's political system, where no candidate was judged eligible to run against a candidate endorsed by the People's Action Party (PAP) government. However, there was little media coverage given to this debate and no polls been conducted on the public opinion regarding this matter.

On the other hand, there are consistent endorsement of Presidential Elections Committee's decision by political, trade union and business organisations. There are little media coverage on opposing views or interviews with rejected candidates.

A factor contributing to the lack of eligible candidate is the stringent requirement placed on the person who can be elected as President, as spelled out in the Constitution of Singapore. There are only a few hundred people in the country who can be qualified and many of whom are in the rank-and-file of the People's Action Party and therefore unlikely to challenge the candidate endorsed by the PAP.

Several commentators felt that the presidency had been undermined as an institution, and this sentiment was expressed in blogs and in op-eds published in Today , a free newspaper. In contrast, Singapore's national newspaper, The Straits Times , and Channel News Asia had come out firmly to back Nathan on his re-election as Singapore's President.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Press Statement by the Presidential Elections Committee on Applications for Certificates of Eligibility (PDF), Singapore Presidential Elections Committee, 13 August 2005
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ http://www.thinkcentre.org/article.cfm?ArticleID=2626
  4. ↑ "PM Lee emphasises importance of electing the right person as President". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 11 August 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  5. ↑ "JTC says presidential hopeful Andrew Kuan's work unsatisfactory". Channel NewsAsia. Archived from the original on 14 August 2005. Retrieved 28 September 2011.

External links

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