The Presidential Elections Committee was set up by the

Government of Singapore The Government of Singapore is defined by the Constitution of Singapore to mean the executive branch of the state, which is made up of the president and the Cabinet. Although the president acts in their personal discretion in the exercise ...

to ensure that each candidate running for the office of

President of Singapore The president of Singapore is the head of state of the Singapore, Republic of Singapore. The role of the president is to safeguard the Reserves of the Government of Singapore, reserves and the integrity of the Singapore Civil Service, public serv ...

has the qualifications needed — referred in Article 19 of the

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Composition

The committee consists of: * the Chairman of the Public Service Commission, who is also the Chairperson of the Presidential Elections Committee * the Chairman of the

Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority The Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority (ACRA) is a statutory board under the Ministry of Finance of the Government of Singapore. ACRA is the regulator of business registration, financial reporting, public accountants and corporate ser ...

* a member of the

Presidential Council for Minority Rights The Presidential Council for Minority Rights (PCMR) is a non-elected government body in Singapore established in 1970, the main function of which is to scrutinize most of the bills passed by Parliament to ensure that they do not discriminate ...

, appointed by the Chairperson of that Council * a member or former member of the Council of Presidential Advisers (but not the sitting Chairperson of that Council or a former member who vacated his seat under Article 37F(2)(a) or (c) of the Constitution), appointed by the Chairperson of that Council * a person who is qualified to be or has been a

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of the

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, appointed by the Chief Justice * a person, who in the opinion of the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

has expertise and experience acquired in the private sector that is relevant to the functions of the Committee, appointed by the Prime Minister

Criticism

Amount of discretionary power

Legal academic Valentine Winslow wrote that the committee has the power to reject anyone who does not have "integrity, good character, and reputation", and that this places too much discretionary power in the hands of a small group of persons, with no guarantee that they are qualified to judge others as being of integrity and good character, or are unbiased, as there is no provision for any independent election commission. Constitutional lawyer

Thio Li-ann Thio Li-ann (born 10 March 1968) is a Singaporean law professor at the National University of Singapore. She was educated at the University of Oxford, Harvard Law School and the University of Cambridge. In January 2007, she was appointed a ...

wrote that the mechanism of selecting qualified candidates "removes the power of choice one step further away from the people, placing in the hands of an unelected group of people the power to decide who is a suitable candidate".

Decisions beyond judicial review

Thio observed that the committee is "not under a legal duty to give reasons for their decision, which is deficient as a process".

Opacity of decisions leading to embarrassment

Winslow suggested that there is an "embarrassment of uncertainty" for a candidate seeking nomination, because they may be rejected for reasons completely unclear to them, and that "men of eminence" will not agree to be nominated if they are likely to be humiliated by rejection.

Presidential election, 2017

The Presidential Elections Committee for the 2017 Singapore presidential election comprises six members. They are: * Eddie Teo, Public Service Commission chairman *

Lim Soo Hoon Lim Soo Hoon is the first female Permanent Secretary of Singapore in the Public Service Division of the office of the Prime Minister of Singapore. Lim held other high-profile positions at Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry, then later in ...

chairperson *

Chan Heng Chee Chan Heng Chee (; born 19 April 1942) is a Singaporean academic and diplomat who has been serving as Ambassador-at-Large at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 2012, Chairwoman of the National Arts Council and Member of the Presidential C ...

, member of the

* Po'ad Shaik Abu Bakar Mattar, member of the Council of Presidential Advisers *

Tay Yong Kwang Tay Yong Kwang is a Singaporean judge of the Supreme Court. He was first appointed Judicial Commissioner in 1997, appointed Judge in 2003, and appointed Judge of Appeal in 2016. He was noted for being the presiding judge in several notable cas ...

, a Judge of Appeal * Peter Seah, chairman of

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There is also a Community Committee, which will assess whether the candidate belongs to the specified racial group. This committee is headed by Timothy James de Souza, a member of the Presidential Council of Minority Rights.

Malay community sub-committee

The Malay community sub-committee, which will issue the Malay Community Certificate to candidates, comprises five members. They are: * Imram Mohamed, former chairman of the

Association of Muslim Professionals The AMP Singapore, formerly known as the Association of Muslim Professionals, is a non-profit organisation serving the Muslim community in Singapore. AMP is a registered charitable organisation and is accorded the status of an Institution of Publ ...

(chairperson) * Fatimah Azimullah, advisor to the Singapore Muslim Women's Association * Mohammad Alami Musa, president of

Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura The Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS), also known as the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore (IRCS), is a statutory board of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth of the Government of Singapore. As a majlis, its role is to look afte ...

(Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) and an inter-religious relations scholar * Yatiman Yusof, a former senior parliamentary secretary * Zulkifli Baharudin, non-resident ambassador to

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and

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a transcontinental country located mainly in Central Asia and partly in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the north and west, China to the east, Kyrgyzstan to the southeast, Uzbeki ...

, and the executive chairman of Indo-Trans Corporation All five were also on the Malay Community Committee that gave the green light to Malay candidates in Group Representation Constituencies in the 2015 General Election.

Former committees

Presidential election, 2005

The Presidential Elections Committee for the 2005 Singapore presidential election had three members: * Andrew Chew Guan Khuan (Chairman) *

Lim Siong Guan Lim Siong Guan, (, born 1947) is currently Advisor to the Group Executive Committee of GIC, Singapore's sovereign wealth fund. He was Group President of GIC from 2007 until his retirement at the end of 2016. Biography Lim was educated at the A ...

* H R Hochstadt

References

{{Authority control Elections in Singapore Presidential elections in Singapore Presidents of Singapore