Ng Kok Song, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and Tan Kin Lian will be vying for the presidential seat on Polling Day, which falls on Sep. 1 this year.

On Nomination Day (Aug. 22), the Elections Department (ELD) published the three presidential candidates' applications for the Certificate of Eligibility.

The forms will remain published for 21 days after the name of the person elected to the office of President is published in the Government Gazette.

You can view them here, but in the meantime, here are some interesting things we picked out from them.

1. Tharman's long history in politics

In his application, Tharman listed his entire employment history from 1982 to 2023.

Tharman's achievements are certainly impressive across various ministries. As an economist, he served extensively in the Ministry of Finance, Monetary Authority of Singapore, and Ministry of Trade and Industry.

He also undertook rotations to the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Manpower. Although he was strongest in his economic policies, it is worthwhile to take note of his five positions at the Ministry of Education.

His portfolio is certainly holistic and all-rounded.

2. Ng Kok Song's choices of referees

Presidential candidate Ng had chosen two very interesting people for his character references--former ministers Lee Boon Yang and George Yeo.

Each candidates had to provide three referees when applying for their Certificate of Eligibility.

George Yeo is a former Cabinet minister. He left the Cabinet after he and his team lost the Aljunied Group Representation Constituency to the Workers' Party in the 2011 General Election (GE).

CNA reported that Yeo was asked to run for the presidency in 2011. He offered to be an "emergency spare tyre".

But he "bowed out" after Tony Tan offered to contest instead.

Fast forward 12 years later, Yeo said that he would not run for the presidency in 2023, but he was "honoured" to be Ng's referee.

As for Ng's other referee, Lee is a former Cabinet minister who served as Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts between 2003 and 2009, Minister for Manpower between 1992 and 2003, and Minister for Defence between 1994 and 1995.

He was also the chairman of SPH Holdings from 2011 to 2022.

3. Tharman's 1992 Official Secrets Act case

There's a saying that time heals all wounds. But more than 20 years later, many Singaporeans have not forgotten Tharman's 1992 Official Secrets Act case.

Tharman had to declare his conviction in his application.

In that case, Tharman was convicted for negligence in allowing sensitive government data to be communicated to the media. He was fined S$1,500.

Tharman told Mothership in a recent interview that "they got the wrong man."

4. Tan Kin Lian's referees

Tan Kin Lian selected Leong Sze Hian to be his referee.

Tan is currently embroiled in a scandal over his comments on social media, which have been criticised by women advocate group AWARE.

However, Leong has had a recent spate of controversies himself too.

From 2018 to 2020, Mothership reported that Leong was sued by PM Lee over a public Facebook post that Leong shared on his page, containing a link to an article by Malaysian website The Coverage.

Leong eventually lost the case to PM Lee, and had to pay S$133,000 in damages for defamation.

Top image from Tharman Shanmugaratnam/Facebook, Ng Kok Song/Facebook, and Tan Kin Lian/Facebook.