 Imposing more stringent criteria for the President than for the Prime Minister appears unreasonable , considering how the Prime Minister 's governing powers are far more substantial than that of the President . Among other things , candidates have to be above 45 years of age and must either presently hold or in the past have held high public office or directorships in private sector companies with paid @-@ up capitals of at least S $ 100 million . It has been estimated that " only just over 400 people have the necessary financial or administrative experience to qualify as spelt out in the constitution " . These onerous qualifying criteria have greatly reduced the pool of candidates , and have been criticized as " technocratic rather than democratic " . 
