Former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock has declared his candidacy for the forthcoming Presidential Elections.

The former presidential candidate garnered about 738,300 votes in the last Presidential Election in 2011, losing to incumbent President Tony Tan Keng Yam by just 0.35 percentage points.

Former presidential candidate Tan Cheng Bock has declared his candidacy for the forthcoming Presidential Elections.

The next presidential election must be held by August 2017.

Announcing this at a press conference on Friday morning (March 11), he said: "The election is 17 months away, but I feel that it is time to state my decision. So I now state that I intend and will contest the coming Presidential Election."

He said he was not preempting efforts to amend the qualifying criteria. Instead, he was announcing his bid now because he owes the people an answer.

Dr Tan wrote on Facebook on Wednesday that his friends and supporters had been asking him if he intended to contest in the next presidential elections. “I owe them an answer ... l shall let Singaporeans know of my intention,” he added.