Six presidential hopefuls have submitted applications for eligibility: ELD

SINGAPORE - Six presidential hopefuls have submitted applications for eligibility for the upcoming presidential election, the Elections Department confirmed on Thursday.

The deadline for the applications closed at 5.30pm on Thursday.

The Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) has up to next Monday, the eve of Nomination Day, to announce its decision on which applications are successful.

Singaporeans will

go to the polls to elect their ninth president on Sept 1

if more than one person qualifies.

There were also 16 applications for the community certificates.

While the upcoming presidential election is not reserved for any particular race, candidates still have to obtain a community certificate to determine when the next reserved election will be.

Four presidential hopefuls have publicly made known their run for the office: former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, 66; entrepreneur George Goh, 63; former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song, 75; and former NTUC Income chief Tan Kin Lian, 75.

Of these,

Mr Tharman is the only hopeful to automatically qualify,

having fulfilled the public-sector service requirement with his ministerial portfolios.

The PEC has the discretion to allow candidates to stand for election if it is satisfied that they have the experience and ability comparable to that of someone who meets the direct requirements.

Mr Ng, who is

also applying through the public-sector route,

falls short of the requirement of being the chief executive of a Fifth Schedule entity. For Mr Goh and Mr Tan, who are applying via the private-sector route, it is also uncertain if they will qualify.

Mr Goh has stated that he helms five companies,

whose average shareholder equity over the past three years combines for a total of $507 million.

For the private-sector route, one of the requirements is that the candidate has to be the most senior executive of a single company with an average of $500 million in shareholder equity over the past three years.

Mr Tan, who in 2011 qualified to run in the presidential election, managed the then cooperative NTUC Income. He has

stated that NTUC Income met the $500 million threshold

in his last three years there before he retired in 2007.

The Constitution states that private-sector candidates must have helmed companies that are limited by shares and incorporated or registered in Singapore.

It is not known who the two other presidential hopefuls are. But IT consultant Teo En Ming, 45, on Tuesday posted on TikTok and Instagram a copy of his declaration on the application form for a certificate of eligibility.