The Elections Department (ELD) announced on Thursday (Aug. 17) that it received six applications for this year's Presidential Election Certificate of Eligibility.

The deadline for the applications closed on Aug. 17, 5.30pm.

ELD also received 16 community declarations.

A community declaration is required, even though this year's election is open to candidates of all races. This is to determine when the next reserved election will be held, depending on which candidate gets elected/ appointed this year.

Names of the applicants who applied for the Certificate of Eligibility were not released by ELD.

What happens next

For voters, Aug. 22 — Nomination Day — will be the next milestone to take note of.

If more than one candidate is successfully nominated, Singapore will immediately head into the Presidential Election campaigning period.

Currently, only former Cabinet minister Tharman Shammugaratnam automatically qualifies based on the public sector route.

Ng Kok Song, who is also applying under the public sector route, does not automatically qualify because he was not a CEO.

George Goh and Tan Kin Lian are applying under the private sector route, but they too do not automatically qualify.

However, the candidates' submissions of their certificates of eligibility is for the Presidential Elections Committee to decide if they can qualify.

This committee has the discretion to allow a candidate to stand for election if it determines that they have comparable experience.

It is not known who the two other presidential hopefuls are.

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