Electoral system for the president

Singapore, Elections Department of Singapore (ELD), Presidential Elections Act (Informal Consolidation – version in force from 1/1/2019), accessed 13 July 2020

Article 32A (5) Where the Returning Officer has made a declaration under section 32(8)(b) or (8D)(b), the number of votes given by overseas electors to each candidate shall be added to the number declared by the Returning Officer as the number of votes cast in Singapore, respectively, for each candidate, and the Returning Officer shall immediately declare the candidate to whom the greatest total number of votes is given to be elected.

In 2016, it was announced that the 2017 Presidential elections would be a reserved election for the Malay community. Therefore, no candidate outside of the Malay racial category will be allowed to run for president. While the first-past-the-post system is still in place, the new clause states that reserved presidential elections will take place if no person belonging to a certain racial community has held the office of the President for any of the 5 most recent terms of office.