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Live from Nomination Day: Follow updates from ST live blog
SINGAPORE – A three-way contest for the presidency is officially under way among former GIC investment chief Ng Kok Song, 75, former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, 66, and former NTUC Income chief Tan Kin Lian, 75.
The three presidential hopefuls all successfully filed their nomination papers on Tuesday.
Returning Officer Tan Meng Dui officially announced the trio as candidates at 12.39pm.
All three had arrived earlier at the nomination centre at the People’s Association headquarters in Jalan Besar ahead of the noon deadline.
Now that they have been officially announced as candidates, they cannot pull out of the race without forfeiting their election deposits of $40,500 each.
The three men, who are vying to become Singapore’s ninth president, can begin campaigning officially.
Campaigning ends on Aug 30, with cooling-off day on Aug 31 and Polling Day on Sept 1.
In his two-minute speech addressing the crowd at the nomination centre, Mr Ng said he was standing for president to protect Singapore’s three national treasures, which define the country as exceptional.
The first treasure is the reserves, which he said he can protect, having spent his entire career at sovereign wealth fund GIC and the Monetary Authority of Singapore, helping to build them up.
The second is good public administration, and the third is social stability.
“I do not belong to any political party. And so I am well placed to unite the people of Singapore to face an uncertain future,” he said.
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