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Singapore named a former speaker of parliament Halimah Yacob, as the multicultural city-state's first woman president on Wednesday while critics expressed dismay that other candidates were disqualified and the election went uncontested.
The returning officer declared Halimah Yacob, 63, elected on Wednesday after nominations closed.
Of the four other applicants, two were not Malays and two were not qualified to contest, the elections department said on Monday. Halimah had automatically qualified because she held a senior public post for over three years.
If the election had been held, all citizens would have been eligible to vote.
The rights group Association of Women for Action and Research (AWARE) said it hoped "more will be done to improve access to politics for all of Singapore's women".
Displays of dissent are rare in Singapore, one of the richest and most politically stable countries in the world. It has been ruled by the People's Action Party (PAP) since independence in 1965 and the current prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, is the son of the country's founding father Lee Kuan Yew.
In the 2015 general election — held months after the death of Lee Kuan Yew — the PAP won almost 70 per cent of the popular vote and swept all but six of parliament's 89 seats.
The incoming president, who is to be sworn in on Thursday, appeared unfazed by the controversy.
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