SINGAPORE — Among the nine nomination centres that will come abuzz next Tuesday (Sept 1), Raffles Institution will, in all likelihood, attract the most attention, given that leaders of the two main political parties in Singapore will be submitting papers for their candidacy there.

The Elections Department has grouped Aljunied, Ang Mo Kio, and Bishan-Toa Payoh electoral divisions — along with Sengkang West — in the nomination centre, which means the People’s Action Party’s secretary-general Lee Hsien Loong and organising secretary Ng Eng Hen will come face to face with the Workers’ Party’s chief Low Thia Khiang and chairman Sylvia Lim.

Prime Minister Lee heads his party’s Ang Mo Kio team, comprising two new faces, while Dr Ng, who is Defence Minister, is anchor of the Bishan-Toa Payoh slate, which will have three rookies. The sitting Members of Parliament for Aljunied GRC, which is under the WP, are defending their wards in the polls next month.

Those who wish to contest in parliamentary elections must be Singapore citizens aged at least 21 and have lived in Singapore for at least 10 years. The person cannot be an undischarged bankrupt or have been sentenced to more than one year’s jail or a fine higher than S$2,000 for a criminal offence.

The candidate must also be proficient in at least one of the four official languages to be able to take an active part in parliamentary proceedings.

Candidates can collect nomination papers from the office of the Returning Officer — Energy Market Authority chief executive Ng Wai Choong — at the Elections Department at Prinsep Link from tomorrow or download soft copies from the website. The documents, which are to be submitted in duplicate between 11am and noon on Nomination Day, must bear information on and signatures of each candidate, as well as a proposer, a seconder and at least four assentors whose names are in the current Register of Electors and are also constituents in the electoral division.

Late or incomplete nomination papers will disqualify a candidate.

By the end of this week, candidates must also apply for a Political Donation Certificate from the Registrar of Political Donations. To get the certificate, candidates must, among other things, list the political donations they have received and declare that these had come from permissible donors (Singapore citizens or Singapore-controlled companies with businesses wholly or mainly in Singapore).

Minority candidates must also hand in their applications for certificates from the Malay Community Committee or the Indian and Other Minority Communities Committee. Every GRC must have at least one minority candidate.

On top of these forms, each candidate must pay a S$14,500 election deposit, which is stipulated under the Parliamentary Elections Act as 8 per cent of an MP’s total allowances rounded to the nearest S$500.