# 2029 Singaporean presidential election

Presidential elections will held in Singapore before 1 September 2029, the seventh public presidential elections.
President Tharman Shanmugaratnam is not term limited, making him eligible to serve another term in office. Former Presidents are also eligible to contest in this election. This election will likely be reserved for ethnic Eurasian candidates, as no Eurasian president has served for for the past five terms since the end of Benjamin Sheares' term in 1981. This is still pending confirmation from the Elections Department.

## Background

The president of Singapore is the head of state of Singapore, is paid an annual salary of S$1.54 million, or US$1.1 million, and is subject to periodic White Paper reviews.

### Eligibility

Candidates must satisfy either the public sector or private sector requirement. Under the public sector requirement, the candidate automatically qualifies if having held either a designated public office or the chief executive position of a key statutory board or government company. Under the private sector requirement, the candidate automatically qualifies if that person has been the chief executive of a company with S$500 million shareholders' equity and net profitability. Notwithstanding the aforementioned automatic tracks, candidates could also be qualified on a deliberative track where their abilities and experiences have been assessed by the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) to be equivalent to either the public- or private-sector automatic track requirements.
The presidency is required by the Constitution to be non-partisan.
Following amendments to the Constitution, the 2017 presidential election was the first to be reserved for a particular racial community. It was restricted to candidates from the minority Malay community, who had not held the presidency since 1970. The 2023 presidential election was open to candidates of any racial community.

### Election procedures

By Nomination Day, all prospective candidates had to have prepared their nomination papers, which included the COE, community certificate, and political donation certificate. The candidate also had to pay the election deposit of $40,500, which was lowered from the $43,500 required for the previous election. A candidate would lose this deposit if they did not receive 12.50% of the total votes cast. The nomination paper must be signed by one's proposer, seconder, and at least four assenters, and be handed to the Returning Officer between 11:00 to 12:00 SST (UTC+08:00) on Nomination Day. On that day, the Returning Officer announces the candidates running for the presidency. However, if only one candidate was successfully nominated, the election would be declared a walkover, and the sole nominated candidate would be the President-elect.
Under the first-past-the-post voting system used in Singapore, the candidate with a plurality of votes is elected as president.

## Potential Candidates

Tharman Shanmugaratnam: 9th and incumbent President of Singapore since 2023.
Tan Cheng Bock: Founder and leader of the Progress Singapore Party. Former People's Action Party Member of Parliament for Ayer Rajah from 1980 to 2006. He had previously contested the 2011 election and had his candidacy rejected in 2017. Led a PSP team against the PAP in 2020 in West Coast but lost narrowly. Halimah Yacob: 8th President of Singapore, served a single term after being elected in 2017 and did not contest in 2023. Tony Tan Keng Yam: 7th President of Singapore, served a single term after being elected in 2011 and did not contest in 2017.