The Elections Department announced that Yacob, a former People's Action Party politician, will be declared Singapore's first female president on Wednesday, Sept. 13, as the two other potential candidates fell short of the qualification criteria. 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. Playwright Alfian Sa’at accused the government of “rigging the system” and labelled the establishment a “sham democracy”, pointing out that while the elected president is intended to provide a check on the government, “all 4 Elected Presidents so far are either ex-PAP ministers … or from the Government’s ranks.”

Many have labelled the whole election process a charade, with popular opinion believing that PAP changed the ground rules by mandating that the next president must be Malay. Yusof was president between 1965 and 1970, the first years of Singapore’s independence following a short-lived union with neighbouring Malaysia, but executive power lay with Lee Kuan Yew, the country’s first prime minister.
Halimah Yacob is elected as the first female president of Singapore as the sole candidate in the upcoming elections.