The Presidential Election will be held on 27 August.

Singapore's first few presidents were not directly elected by the people. Instead, they were appointed by Parliament. However, since 1993, elections have been held to choose the republic’s President. The first Presidential Election was held in 1993. It was won by Ong Teng Cheong, who served one term of six years until 1999. In 1999, S. R. Nathan ran for President. He was the only one taking part in the election, people didn’t have to vote. In 2005, Mr Nathan was again elected without a fight. He completes his second term at the end of this month.

The person who will take over Mr Nathan's post will be one of these four candidates: Dr Tan Cheng Bock, Mr Tan Kin Lian, Dr Tony Tan and Mr Tan Jee Say.

You may be wondering why Singapore started having elections for president even though this wasn’t necessary before. The reason is because the president has been given a bigger job. To do this job, it’s better that everyone knows that he has the full support of the people. Voting is the best way for people to show their support for leaders of their choice.

One of the new jobs that the president has is to keep an eye on how much money the government spends. If the government wants to use up the country’s savings, it must get the president’s approval.

The president also has the task of checking whom the government appoints to important positions such as the chief of the armed forces and the head of the HDB. These jobs should be given to the most able people and not just decided based on favouritism. The president has the power to stop the government from appointing people whom he thinks are bad choices.