Singapore Gets First Female President

Team Udayavani, Sep 13, 2017, 2:43 PM IST

Singapore: Singapore gets its first female President, with only one candidate qualifying for an election limited to members of the minority Malay community.

Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament from the Muslim Malay minority, did not have to face an election for the largely ceremonial post originally due this month after authorities decided her rivals did not meet strict eligibility criteria.

The Elections Department said only one of five hopefuls had been qualified while others had not satisfied the criteria, such as having held key public positions or running a company with at least 500 million Singapore dollars ($370 million) in equity.

“I can only say that I promise to do the best that I can to serve the people of Singapore, and that doesn’t change whether there is an election or no election,” she said.