<p> Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament, was declared elected as Singapore's first woman president on Wednesday, after the returning officer announced she was the sole candidate to qualify for the contest.<br /><br />Aiming to strengthen a sense of inclusivity in the multicultural city-state, Singapore had decreed the presidency, a largely ceremonial post, would be reserved for candidates from the minority Malay community this time.<br /><br />"Although this is a reserved election, I'm not a reserved president," Halimah said in a speech at the elections department office. "I'm a president for everyone."<br /><br />Halimah's experience as house speaker automatically qualified her under the nomination rules.<br /><br />Of the four other applicants, two were not Malays and two were not given certificates of eligibility, the elections department said earlier this week.<br /><br />The last Malay to hold the presidency was Yusof Ishak, whose image adorns the country's banknotes.<br /><br />Yusof was president between 1965 and 1970, the first years of Singapore's independence following a short-lived union with neighbouring Malaysia, but executive power lay with Lee Kuan Yew, the country's first prime minister.<br /><br />The separation of Singapore from Malaysia gave ethnic Malays a clear majority in Malaysia, while ethnic Chinese formed the majority in independent Singapore.</p>
<p> Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament, was declared elected as Singapore's first woman president on Wednesday, after the returning officer announced she was the sole candidate to qualify for the contest.<br /><br />Aiming to strengthen a sense of inclusivity in the multicultural city-state, Singapore had decreed the presidency, a largely ceremonial post, would be reserved for candidates from the minority Malay community this time.<br /><br />"Although this is a reserved election, I'm not a reserved president," Halimah said in a speech at the elections department office. "I'm a president for everyone."<br /><br />Halimah's experience as house speaker automatically qualified her under the nomination rules.<br /><br />Of the four other applicants, two were not Malays and two were not given certificates of eligibility, the elections department said earlier this week.<br /><br />The last Malay to hold the presidency was Yusof Ishak, whose image adorns the country's banknotes.<br /><br />Yusof was president between 1965 and 1970, the first years of Singapore's independence following a short-lived union with neighbouring Malaysia, but executive power lay with Lee Kuan Yew, the country's first prime minister.<br /><br />The separation of Singapore from Malaysia gave ethnic Malays a clear majority in Malaysia, while ethnic Chinese formed the majority in independent Singapore.</p>