President of Singapore
The President of the Republic of Singapore is the country's head of state. Singapore has a parliamentary system of government. Executive authority is exercised by the Cabinet led by the Prime Minister of Singapore. The current president is Halimah Yacob, who was elected unopposed at the 2017 presidential election. She is the first female President of Singapore and first Malay head of state in 47 years since the death of Yusof Bin Ishak, Singapore's first president.
Powers of the President of Singapore
On 2 September 1993, Ong Teng Cheong became Singapore's first directly elected President. During his term of office, some differences arose between him and the Government concerning the extent of his discretionary fiscal powers. At a press conference on 16 July 1999, the President announced he would not be seeking re-election, and referred to what he termed a "long list" of problems he had experienced when trying to protect the nation's past reserves. In particular, he mentioned:The Minister for Finance Richard Hu Tsu Tau and the Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong made ministerial statements in Parliament on 17 August 1999 explaining the Government's views on the points raised.