Presidential elections were held in Singapore on 27 August 2011. It was the fourth direct presidential election and the second to be contested by more than one candidate.
Four candidates contested the non-partisan position: Tony Tan, Tan Cheng Bock, Tan Jee Say and Tan Kin Lian. All were independents or had resigned from any political parties they were previously members of. Each candidate was issued a Certificate of Eligibility (COE) and a community certificate, meeting the eligibility requirements to contest in the election.
Singaporeans were unusually divided in this election. Tony Tan won with 35.20% of the vote, narrowly defeating Tan Cheng Bock, who received 34.85%, by just 7,382 votes, prompting an election recount. The other candidates, Tan Jee Say and Tan Kin Lian, received 25.04% and 4.91%, with Tan Kin Lian losing his election deposit for failing to secure over 12.5%. As no runoff elections apply for less than 50% of the vote, Tan was inaugurated as the seventh President of Singapore on 1 September 2011 with a relative majority result.
Background
The president is the head of state of Singapore. Following the Westminster system, the position is largely ceremonial, but enjoys several reserve powers including withholding presidential assent on supply bills and changing or revoking civil service appointments.Constitution, Arts. 148A and 148D.Constitution, Art. 22(1). The current system of holding elections for the presidency began with the 1993 election. Before then, the president was selected by Parliament.
There are strict requirements for prospective election candidates, and whether a candidate meets the qualifications or not is decided by the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC). In short, candidates must satisfy either the public sector or private sector requirements. The public sector requirement has an automatic track where the candidate has held either a designated public office or chief executive position of a key statutory board or government company. The private sector requirement also has an automatic track where the candidate has held a chairmanship or CEO position of a company with S$100 million paid-up capital. Notwithstanding the automatic tracks of the aforementioned, candidates could also be qualified on a deliberative track where their abilities and experiences have been assessed by the PEC to be equivalent to either of the public or private sector automatic track requirements.
The presidency, by the rules of the Constitution, requires a nonpartisan candidate/officeholder. However, in this election, three of the four candidates had connections to the dominant People's Action Party, and the fourth contested the recent 2011 general election under the banner of the Singapore Democratic Party.
Moreover, since the amendment of the constitution of electing president in 1991, 2011 was the first year in Singapore's history whereas both a parliamentary and presidential election would occur on the same calendar year.
Parliamentary reform On 11 March 2010, the Government tabled three bills in the parliament to amend the Constitution, the Presidential Elections Act and the Parliamentary Elections Act. A one-day "cooling-off" day was implemented, during which campaigning was forbidden, with only party political broadcasts allowed. Internet campaigning was also formally legalised as a legitimate means of political campaigning. On 26 April 2010, the amendments to the Constitution were passed by a vote of 74–1 after a three-hour debate on the bill.
Nomination Day for eligible candidates was held on 17 August 2011. Four candidates were issued certificates of eligibility by Singapore's Presidential Elections Committee, and all four were nominated on Nomination Day. At the time of the election, it was the biggest democratic exercise in Singapore, with 2,153,014 local votes and 3,375 overseas votes cast.
Candidates Eligible Candidates BackgroundOutcome Tony Tan A former PAP member, he was the Chairman of People's Action Party and MP of Sembawang GRC between 1998 and 2006 and the Deputy Prime Minister until 2006. He was both the executive director of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and Chairman of Singapore Press Holdings (SPH), announced his candidacy on 23 June 2011, after speculations that he would run. Tan would resign from all his position in 2010 and also announced that he would resign from his posts at the GIC and SPH to alleviate concerns over conflict of interest. He submitted his presidential eligibility forms on 7 July. Application for the Certificate of Eligibility Accepted. Tan Cheng Bock A former People's Action Party (PAP) member who was a Member of Parliament (MP) representing Ayer Rajah SMC from 1980 to 2006 (now under West Coast GRC), he left politics in 2006 and announced his candidacy on 27 May 2011. He submitted his presidential eligibility forms on 22 July. Tan Jee Say A former civil servant and Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) member (who contested Holland–Bukit Timah GRC in the recent election), announced his candidacy on 15 July. He said that he did so as "many Singaporeans want a non-PAP President whose independence of the PAP is clear, obvious and cannot be in doubt." He submitted his presidential eligibility forms on 3 August. Tan Kin LianFormer NTUC Income Chief Executive Officer and former PAP Branch Secretary for Marine Parade, said on 3 June 2011 that he may stand for president, he left politics in 2008 and later announced his candidacy on 7 June 2011. He submitted his presidential eligibility forms on 7 July.
Declared Ineligible Candidates BackgroundOutcomeAndrew KuanA former JTC Corporation group Chief Financial Officer (CFO), who attempted to run for the presidency in 2005 before being controversially disqualified, stated that he will collect eligibility forms 'some time in July'. He picked up the forms on 27 July, and submitted his forms on 5 August. He was found to be ineligible due to the same reason for the previous election, in that his position as CFO of JTC Corporation was not comparable to those of a chief executive officer (CEO). Application for the Certificate of Eligibility rejected.Ooi Boon EweFormer leader of the People's Liberal Democratic Party and perennial seeker of the presidency in the last two elections, announced his bid for the presidency on 1 June 2011. He submitted his forms on 11 July, and was found to be ineligible because his application was incomplete and he had asked for a waiver from certain requirements set forth by the Constitution, which the Elections Department claims it has no power to do.
Declined to be candidates Candidates Background S. R. Nathan The incumbent and sixth president of Singapore, was reportedly considering re-election but announced on 2 July 2011 that he would not run for re-election. S. Jayakumar Senior Minister, initially considered a run, but he stated that he would not be running in an interview. Chiam See Tong Singapore People's Party (SPP) leader and former Member of Parliament (MP) for Potong Pasir Single Member Constituency was speculated to run for the presidency but later announced that he would not run for the presidency on 10 June. George Yeo Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2004 to 2011 and MP for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) from 1988 to 2011, initially ruled out a run for president.Dai, Ong. (2 June 2011) "George Yeo for President?", Today Online, 2 June 2011 . Todayonline.com. Retrieved on 28 August 2011. On 5 June, Yeo announced that he will make a decision on running for president within 2 weeks, and has asked his friends to pick up eligibility forms on his behalf. Yeo later declined running for the presidency on 15 June via his Facebook page. Zainul Abidin bin Mohamed Rasheed An MP for Aljunied Group Representation Constituency (GRC) until 2011 declined to announce a candidacy on 29 May, but did not categorically rule out a run, declaring that he wished to take a break before making any decisions. He did not make any further statements on a possible campaign afterwards. Mark Lee Kheng Siang He announced his bid for the presidency on 1 June, but did not submit after discovering that he did not meet the requirements of being a private company CEO for 3 years. Lee had resigned as CEO of Global Ariel 5 months shy of the 3-year mark in July 2007. Mohamed Raffi Bashir Ahmed A former food stall owner collected eligibility forms at the Election Department headquarters on 9 June. Ahmed was still under investigation for driving a van spray-painted with expletives into the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore premises earlier in January.
Endorsements In alphabetical order:
Tan Cheng Bock Tan Cheng Bock received a formal endorsement from the Singapore Baseball and Softball Association.
Tan Jee Say Tan Jee Say was endorsed by Nicole Seah from the National Solidarity Party (NSP), as well as Vincent Wijeysingha, Jeannette Chong-Aruldoss, Steve Chia, and candidate-hopeful Andrew Kuan (who was not awarded a COE). He also received an endorsement from the political website Temasek Review Emeritus.
Tony Tan As of 20 August 2011, Tony Tan was endorsed by: 21 unions (including the Transport and Logistics cluster, the Marine and Machinery Engineering cluster, and the Infocomm and Media cluster) which collectively represent about 112,000 workers Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCCI) Singapore Malay Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SMCCI) Singapore Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SICCI) Federation of Tan Clan Associations with 10,000 members Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations (SFCCA)Tan, Dawn. (13 August 2011) 2 Chinese networking groups endorse Tony Tan . Straitstimes.com. Retrieved on 28 August 2011. Nine Teochew clan associations
Tan Kin Lian Tan Kin Lian did not receive any group endorsements. He said during a walkabout in Tiong Bahru, "I met so many people here today. They tell me they want to support me, they tell me 'Mr Tan, please don't drop out, give us a chance to vote'. So I want to be endorsed by the people."
Timeline All the dates and time reflected in this timeline are in Local Singaporean Time (SST).