SINGAPORE - Just two presidential aspirants turned up at the Elections Department (ELD) office on Tuesday, the first day that candidates wishing to contest the upcoming Presidential Election can pick up their application forms.

Entrepreneur George Goh, who announced his presidential bid on Monday, was at the Novena office at about 10am with his wife and four children. This was followed by the arrival at around 2pm of former secondary school teacher Seng Soon Kia.

Mr Seng spent about 20 minutes pacing outside the office before he strode in to pick up his forms.

Asked why he wanted to run for president, the 72-year-old former woodwork teacher said there were several issues in Singapore that he felt have to be addressed.

Speaking in Mandarin through his face mask, Mr Seng said he wanted to push for a return to a work schedule common during the Covid-19 pandemic, when people could work from home and return to their workplace only a few days each week.

He also wished to improve the condition of public toilets and the standard of public bus services. Mr Seng said he had written down more issues to be addressed, but had left his notes at home.

While the first day for applications was relatively quiet, the morning started with a buzz as close to 50 people dressed in red showed up at about 9.30am, even before the candidates did.

Identifying themselves as supporters of Mr Goh, they mostly milled around the entrance of the ELD office in small groups and chatted among themselves. Cheers broke out when Mr Goh arrived, and some of them whipped out their phones to take pictures of their candidate.

Among the supporters who said they knew Mr Goh personally were a hawker centre stall owner and a retired Malay linguist, who has been helping Mr Goh brush up on his Malay.

There was also a group of Singapore Management University (SMU) students who turned up. Mr Goh is a mentor with SMU’s Institute of Innovation & Entrepreneurship, which aims to nurture and incubate start-ups among the university’s students.

Mr Matthew Fong, 51, an entrepreneur, said he met Mr Goh on a trip to Nepal several years ago with Border Mission, a charity that Mr Goh set up in 2015 with his wife.

Mr Fong said he got to know Mr Goh more personally in the past year, and was impressed by the success Mr Goh has found in the business world despite his humble beginnings.

Such admiration for Mr Goh is common among the supporters who turned up, he added.

After Mr Goh gave a short interview and posed for photos for the media, he was led by his team to meet his supporters, who had arrayed themselves along a nearby sheltered walkway.

To handshakes and pats on the back, Mr Goh thanked them for turning out, before he hopped into a car and left.

While those wishing to stand for president may pick up their forms at the ELD office, the department has encouraged potential candidates to use the digital services on its website.

This means candidates can download the necessary forms, which include that for the application for a certificate of eligibility to stand in the election, and the community declaration notice as to which racial group they belong to.

• Additional reporting by BNB Diviyadhaarshini and Megan Elise Michael

Correction note: This story has been updated for clarity.