Mdm Halimah Yacob declared as first female President of Singapore

Mdm Halimah Yacob has been declared by the returning officer at the nomination centre as the President Elect after no other candidate is present to submit the nomination forms.

A crowd of around 800 individuals (including the press) gathered at the nomination awaiting the arrival of Mdm Halimah and the eventual announcement of her presidency. Most of the attendees were from labour unions, wearing their union t-shirts.

The returning officer, Mr Ng Wai Choong, chief executive of the Energy Market Authority, under section 15 of the Presidential Election Act, declared Mdm Halimah to be elected to the office of President as only one candidate stands nominated at end of nomination period.

Two of her potential opponents, Mr Mohamed Salleh Marican and Mr Farid Khan, were not issued with Certificate of Eligibility as they do not meet the newly amended criteria of $500 million shareholders equity for the companies that they have run, while Mdm Halimah qualified as she had been the Speaker of Parliament for 3 years.

Mdm Halimah is the first female and second Malay president for Singapore.

She said at her acceptance speech, “I am a President for everyone. Even though this is a reserved election, I am not a reserved President,”. Stating that the election is over, she asked Singaporeans to focus on the similarities and not on the differences of the people and called on Singaporeans to do good together with her.

According to the Prime Minister Office, Mdm Halimah will be sworn in as Singapore’s eighth President on Thursday at 6pm at the Istana.

There were no boos from the crowd for Mdm Halimah as what Dr Tony Tan experienced at the nomination centre. This is primarily due to the lack of presence of supporters for other candidates as two of the other candidates have been disqualified.