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Sweeping changes proposed for Elected Presidency

SINGAPORE — After six months of deliberations, the Constitutional Commission tasked to review specific aspects of the Elected Presidency has put up wide-ranging recommendations including a “hiatus-triggered” mechanism to safeguard minority representation, significantly raising the bar for prospective candidates and requiring the President to consult his advisers on all fiscal matters and key public service appointments.

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon at the Constitutional Commission's public hearing on specific aspects of the Elected Presidency at the Supreme Court Auditorium on April 26, 2016. TODAY file photo

Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon at the Constitutional Commission's public hearing on specific aspects of the Elected Presidency at the Supreme Court Auditorium on April 26, 2016. TODAY file photo

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SINGAPORE — After six months of deliberations, the Constitutional Commission tasked to review specific aspects of the Elected Presidency has put up wide-ranging recommendations including a “hiatus-triggered” mechanism to safeguard minority representation, significantly raising the bar for prospective candidates and requiring the President to consult his advisers on all fiscal matters and key public service appointments. 

The commission’s 154-page report, which was submitted to the Government last month, was made public by the Government on Wednesday (Sept 7). The nine-member commission led by Chief Justice Sundaresh Menon was formed in February and had mulled over ideas culled from four public hearings and more than 100 written submissions. 

The commission was asked to study the eligibility criteria for presidential candidacy, safeguarding minority representation in the presidency, and the framework governing the exercise of the President’s 
custodial powers.

Nonetheless, the commission made several suggestions outside its terms of reference. Among other things, it weighed in on the topic of whether Singapore should abolish the Elected Presidency and revert to the previous practice of having Parliament appoint the President: There is “undeniable tension” between the symbolic and custodial roles of the President, the commission said, even though it made clear that this issue was beyond their terms of reference. 

“The choice of constitutional design and arrangements to achieve particular ends are quintessentially political questions. They should be left to the Legislature or, in extreme circumstances, the electorate voting in a referendum,” the commission said.

Nevertheless, it set out its views to “provide some context for further debate on this issue”. It mooted the suggestion of vesting the “important custodial role” of the President in a council of highly-qualified experts — leaving the President to play the “symbolic and ceremonial role of the Head of State” and hold an appointed office which will be rotated among the different ethnic groups. 

On the issue of minority representation, the commission proposed a mechanism to reserve elections for a particular minority race if it has not been represented  for five consecutive terms, a period that stretches three decades.

On the eligibility criteria, the commission recommended increasing the S$100 million paid-up capital threshold to S$500 million in shareholders’ equity. In absolute terms, more companies — 691 — would meet this revised threshold compared to the number which met the original threshold when it was introduced in 1993, which was 158.

Other changes proposed include introducing a performance criteria and stipulating that the candidate must have held the “most senior executive position, however that office may be titled” — or the office within a company which holds the highest level of executive authority. For candidates from the public sector, the appointments of Accountant-General and Auditor-General were dropped from the list of qualifying offices.

To automatically qualify, prospective candidates — be it in from the private or public sector — would have to serve for at least six years in their former roles, double the previous tenure requirements.

Applicants may also seek qualification if they have held a “similar or comparable position of seniority and responsibility in any other organisation or department of equivalent size or complexity”. To accord the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) greater flexibility in its deliberations under this category, the requisite number of years need not be expressly stipulated in the Constitution but the PEC would need take the performance of the relevant entity into consideration, the report said. 

In tandem with the more stringent criteria, greater responsibilities will be put on the PEC such as assessing whether the applicant did hold the most senior executive position and whether the performance criteria have been met. As such, the commission suggested doubling the size of the committee to comprise six members, including a legal expert who “would be able to ensure that the decision is reached in a manner that is procedurally fair”.

While the commission disagreed with suggestions to make public the reasons for rejecting applications, the PEC should provide its grounds to the rejected candidates for “transparency and accountability” and leave them to decide for themselves whether to make those reasons public.

The commission also proposed expanding the Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA) from six to eight members, with the President and the Prime Minister appointing an additional member each. Proposing that the President be required to consult his advisers on all fiscal matters and public service appointments, the commission also recommended that in the event the CPA disagrees with the President, the issue has to be brought before Parliament. 

“In order to increase accountability, the CPA should be required to disclose to the President the votes of each individual CPA member and the grounds for the CPA’s advice (including dissenting views),” said the commsision. It added: “Some might argue that (these changes) may undermine the efficacy of the second key held by the President, especially as Parliament has historically been and still is dominated by a single political party. However, the commission considers that it should not be assumed that the Legislature will always be dominated by a single political party.” 

Beyond its terms of reference, the commission proposed guidelines on candidates’ conduct in future presidential elections and possible sanctions for those found to have incited divisiveness and flamed emotions. Alluding to the 2011 Presidential Election where some candidates had made lofty promises beyond the powers of the President, the commission recommended that candidates make a statutory declaration to say that they understand the constitutional role of the President before they may be issued a Certificate of Eligibility.

Possible consequences of breaching election rules include criminal sanctions, applications to an Election Judge for declaratory reliefs and “in appropriate extreme cases, the revocation of a candidate’s Certificate of Eligibility”, the commission said.

TIMELINE OF SINGAPORE'S PRESIDENTIAL SYSTEM

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