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.
Presidential elections in Singapore
The qualifications required for a person to be elected as President are set out in the Constitution of the Republic of Singapore and are as follows:The public and private sector service requirements were adopted by Parliament on the recommendation of a constitutional commission chaired by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon, which had been convened by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to recommend improvements to the Elected President scheme. In its report issued on 17 August 2016, the Commission said it was desirable to make the requirements more stringent to ensure the President "has the technical competence and expertise to discharge the functions and exercise the powers of the Presidency appropriately and effectively". Furthermore, stricter qualifications would "temper any politicisation of the Presidential office and of the election process": they would "likely reduce the prospect that candidates will target their campaigns at their opponent's character and qualifications, since each candidate who qualifies would have satisfied the PEC that they possess those traits".