Constitional Commission on elected presidency: Submission by S. Dhanabalan

Former Cabinet minister S. Dhanabalan speaks at the Constitutional Commission hearing on elected presidency on May 6, 2016. ST PHOTO: KEVIN LIM

SINGAPORE - Changes to the elected presidency aimed at ensuring minority representation would necessarily involve some sort of affirmative action, said former Cabinet minister S. Dhanabalan.

Mr Dhanabalan, who spoke at the fourth and final constitutional commission public hearing on changes to the elected presidency on Friday (May 6), had suggested that every third presidential election can be varied to ensure a minority president is elected from time to time.

Under this system, there would be two elections for a presidency with a six-year term, then one election for a presidency with an eight-year term.

For the longer term, two candidates will run on the same ticket with at least one of them from a minority group. They will then each helm the presidency for four years.

In his written submission sent earlier to the commission, he said that during this time, the other would serve as Vice President.

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