Nomination Day for the 2023 Presidential Election takes place today (Aug. 22).

Police shared in an advisory that crowds are expected at the People’s Association Headquarters at 9 King George’s Avenue in Jalan Besar, which has been designated as the nomination centre.

Mothership went on the ground to cover the various happenings, and here are the latest updates.

Candidates arrived

The three presidential hopefuls have arrived at the nomination centre.

Ng Kok Song and his fiancée Sybil Lau were the first to make an appearance.

Followed by Tan Kin Lian and his wife, Tay Siew Hong.

Tharman Shanmugaratnam and his wife Jane Ittogi also arrived at the centre at around 10:30am.

Supporters all in maroon

An estimated 150 supporters have stationed themselves outside the nomination centre, some of whom told Mothership that they arrived as early as 9am to queue outside the gates of the centre.

Majority of the supporters are dressed in maroon, cheering and clapping and chanting Tharman's name.

Familiar faces

Several familiar faces have been spotted on the ground as well.

Singaporean filmmaker Royston Tan was seen with Tharman as one of his assenters.

Former Red Dot United party chairman Michelle Lee was there in support of Tan, as well as People's Power Party member Goh Meng Seng.

Candidates went into auditorium

As of around 11am, all three candidates have entered the auditorium to submit their nomination papers.

As of 12:20pm, the three hopefuls have submitted their nomination papers.

Candidates reveal their symbols

Ng, Tharman and Tan unveiled their candidate symbols at around 12:30pm.

The symbols are not among the eight approved by the Returning Officer for use by presidential candidates to represent them on the ballot papers and during their electoral campaign.

The returning officer for this election will be Tan Meng Dui, the chief executive of the Housing Board.

Ng's is the palm of a hand with a heart in it, Tharman's is a pineapple, and Tan's is four people holding up a flower.

Nominated candidates

At 12:40pm, the returning officer emerged on stage to announce the nominated candidates.

All three hopefuls, Ng, Tharman and Tan, were announced to be qualified to run for the election, to raucous cheers from the supporters.

Each candidate was given two minutes for their speech.

At around 1pm, all three candidates exited the holding area to greet their supporters.

Each was greeted to fervent chanting of their names by their own groups of supporters.

Man seen lying on the ground

A man was observed lying face up on the ground. He was surrounded by other people, and police officers were seen shepherding people away from the area.

Some speculated that the man fainted from the heat.

Before the candidates emerged to give their thank you speeches, some supporters waiting outdoors could be heard shouting about how hot the weather was, and complaining about how long the nomination process was taking.

However, when Tharman approached, the man sprang up to greet him.

The man was later seen being conveyed out of the area on a stretcher.

Doorstops

At a media doorstop following his thank you speech, Ng highlighted how Singapore is entering an era of uncertainty, and urged voters, especially younger ones, to elect a president that they can trust to protect their future.

He added that from today onwards, he will be "going all out" to reach out to the masses.

Tharman elaborated more on the rationale behind his chosen symbol at his doorstop as well.

Both Tharman and Ng also addressed the furore surrounding Tan's posts about "pretty girls", with the former responding to Tan's allegations of a smear campaign.

Meanwhile, Tan responded to the controversy over his social media posts.

The three candidates left the nomination centre at around 1:30pm.

Top photo by Mothership