Envoy tipped as a certainty for presidency

Two rivals submitted applications to run for the presidency by Saturday's deadline, but both are expected to be ruled ineligible before campaigning even begins.

They are veteran opposition figure and insurance agent Tan Soo Phuan, the little-known leader of the little-known Singapore Democratic Progressive Party, and private tutor Ooi Boon Ewe, a man even more obscure in politics.

Political analyst Ooi Giok Ling said: "The screening criteria are very rigorous and these two men are not likely to qualify."

The Presidential Elections Committee will only issue eligibility certificates to applicants who fulfil strict criteria, such as having held high public office or headed a S$100 million company.

Neither Mr Tan, 63, and Mr Ooi, 58, come anywhere close to qualifying and are expected to forfeit their S$30,000 deposits.

That would allow Mr Nathan, 75, an automatic walkover, without requiring Singaporeans to exercise their democratic right to vote.

In an interview with Singapore's Straits Times newspaper, Mr Nathan said he was "stepping forward out of a sense of duty", having been asked by Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew and several other senior figures.

"When I have been called to do anything for this country over the years, I have never turned away from duty," he said.

Mr Nathan, currently an ambassador-at-large and head of Singapore's Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, has been formally nominated for the post by the powerful National Trades Union Congress, with whom he ran a research unit in the 1960s.

A statement from the union said: "Whatever his role, be it as a social worker, a seamen's welfare officer, a trade unionist or employer, Mr Nathan has always been guided by his empathy for workers."

Mr Nathan has also previously served as Singapore's ambassador to the United States and Malaysia, acting as mediator during some periods of seriously strained bilateral ties.

Current President Ong Teng Cheong, 63, who became the city-state's first popularly elected president in 1993, has decided not to seek a second six-year term when his tenure expires on August 31.

His wife died of cancer last month. Although he had also been battling cancer, Mr Ong said this was not his prime reason for retiring.

He said he was made to feel like a "nuisance" by some ministers and senior civil servants, who made it difficult for him to exercise his constitutional powers.

Singapore's constitution was revamped by Parliament in 1991 to grant directly elected heads of state powers to safeguard the use of the country's financial reserves and the right to appoint certain key public figures.

Previously, presidents were appointed and served a purely ceremonial role.

Parliament is due to debate Mr Ong's complaints later this month.

Mr Nathan is not known as a confrontational person.