Presidential election: Tweak system to ensure 50% majority

The Straits Times- Published on Aug 15, 2011
Presidential election: Tweak system to ensure 50% majority
 KUDOS to the Presidential Elections Committee (PEC) for issuing certificates of eligibility to four presidential hopefuls, thus ensuring a contest on Polling Day ('PEC took 'spirit, not letter' of law'; last Friday).
If, on Nomination Day, it is confirmed that this time, it is a four-horse race, then one of the four candidates could be elected president despite securing less than 50 per cent of the valid votes.

In our 'first past the post' system, it is possible for a candidate garnering as little as 26 per cent of the valid votes to win - provided none of the other three gets more than 26 per cent, despite collectively accounting for the balance of 74 per cent.
In this eventuality, how does an elected president obtain moral and political legitimacy and represent the entire nation, when 74 per cent did not vote for him? How then does one expect the president to be a rallying factor - the one uniting the nation?
As reported, there are about 800 companies in Singapore fulfilling the $100 million paid-up capital requirement. As each company has a chief executive and chairman, there is a base of at least 1,600 people who could seek eligibility certificates to contest the elected president's post. Potentially then, the PEC may need to hand out 10 eligibility certificates or more, if all applicants meet the stringent requirements.
Clearly, a more practical method for electing the president must be found.
Future presidential elections could be decided over two or more selection rounds, depending on the number of those contesting.
As they do with cities competing for the right to host the Summer Olympic Games or Fifa World Cup, presidential candidates could be eliminated in earlier rounds, leaving just two of them to contest the final round.
This way, the elected president would have secured at least a 50 per cent majority of the valid votes cast and be deemed to have obtained moral and political legitimacy.
Clinton Lim
http://www.straitstimes.com/STForum/Story/STIStory_702198.html
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