Malay set to be Singapore’s first woman president-Straits Times

Halimah Yacob, left, inspects the honor guard, accompanied by Cambodia’s President of the National Assembly Heng Samrin during an official welcoming ceremony in front of the Cambodian National Assembly in Phnom Penh, on May 7, 2015. (File photo by Reuters)

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, the Straits Times newspaper reported on Monday.
The largely ceremonial post had been reserved this year for candidates from the ethnic Malay minority. Only Halimah was given the certificate of eligibility to contest the election by the Presidential Elections Committee, the Straits Times reported on its website.