In 1991, a constitutional change introduced the election of the president by a popular vote. The first president so elected in 1993 was Ong Teng Cheong, who was kicked upstairs from second deputy prime minister.
Since Ong Teng Cheong's retirement at the end of his six year term in August 1999 , no president has been elected as such since there is only single candidate for the prestigious but powerless post and there has been no need felt to hold a ballot. As such, the Presidential Election Committee appointed by the government processed all candidates and found only one candidate eligible for the office and declared S.R. Nathan unanimously elected president.