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Mr Tan applied for the certificate of eligibility to run for President through a proxy on Jul 11. He previously said he would wait for the PEC’s decision on the final slate of approved candidates to decide whether to submit his nomination papers.
The PEC has yet to issue any certificates of eligibility.
Apart from Mr Tan, three prospective candidates – Mr Goh, Mr Ng and Mr Tharman – have also applied for the certificate of eligibility and announced their intention to run.
Mr Tharman is the only one who unequivocally clears the bar to run.
Analysts have told CNA that Mr Tan may not automatically qualify. While he qualified for the 2011 Presidential Election, the eligibility criteria have since changed.
Previously, a private sector candidate needed to have led or chaired a company with paid-up capital of S$100 million or more.
Now, they must have served as the chief executive of a company with shareholders’ equity of S$500 million or more for at least three years.
Mr Tan previously said that “the assets of (NTUC) Income was S$28 million when I joined and increased by 600 times to S$17 billion when I left in 2007 at the age of 59 years”.
NTUC Income’s net assets were valued at around S$1.17 billion in its annual report for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2006, which was Mr Tan’s last full year as its CEO.
Analysts have said that even if the numbers are correct, Mr Tan still needs to qualify under the deliberative track as NTUC Income is a cooperative and not a “company” within the meaning of the relevant Article in the Constitution.
Under the deliberative track, the PEC can give its approval if it deems that the candidate has the experience and ability comparable to a chief executive who has run a company with shareholders’ equity of S$500 million or more.
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