Malay set to beome Singapore's first woman president

Singapore's President-elect Halimah Yacob and her husband Mohammed Abdullah Alhabshee address supporters before leaving the nomination centre in Singapore, Sept 13, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]

SINGAPORE - A former speaker of Singapore's parliament, Halimah Yacob, was set to become the city-state's first woman president after other candidates did not qualify for the contest, local media The Straits Times newspaper reported on Monday.

The country's Presidential Elections Committee issued only one certificate of eligibility to Halimah which allowed her to contest the election, the Straits Times reported on its website, and Halimah had gone to the Elections Department to take the certificate.

In this way, Halimah will be declared Singapore's eighth president and the first female one shortly after nominations close at noon on Wednesday.

The largely ceremonial post had been reserved this year for candidates from the ethnic Malay minority.

Singapore's Presidential Election 2017 requires candidates to have a certificate of eligibility, and a community certificate stating that he or she belong to the Malay community.

Xinhua/AP

Former speaker of Singapore's parliament, Halimah Yacob, speaks to the media at the Elections Department after she was given the certificate of eligibility to contest the election by the Presidential Elections Committee in Singapore, Sept 11, 2017. [Photo/Agencies]