<B>Singapore PM plans no overhaul of presidency system</B>

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says he sees no need to overhaul the controversial procedure for selecting candidates allowed to run for president of the city-state, a newspaper reported yesterday. Incumbent president SR. Nathan was named to a second six-year term last month after three would-be contenders were disqualified by a government-appointed three-man committee. In an interview with the Straits Times, Lee was asked about a previous statement that some of the rules governing presidential elections might be changed. “We are not going to change the Presidential Elections Committee. They are refinements to the system and they’re not glamorous things but improvements, and in due course we will put them up,” the prime minister said. Strict eligibility requirements stipulate that the candidate must either have been a cabinet minister, chief justice, parliamentary speaker, a senior civil servant or an individual who has headed a company with a paid-up capital of at least S $100 million ($ 59.6 million).