After considering the candidate's applications, the Presidential Elections Committee issued only one Certificate of Eligibility to the incumbent, Sellapan Ramanathan.

On 9 August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called for all candidates to be open about their records so that Singaporeans could make an informed judgment on them.

No details as to how his work was unsatisfactory were provided, other than a note that no fraud or other crime was involved, and he needed "quite a fair bit of handholding".

In reply, Kuan noted that he had worked at JTC Corporation for 37 months, which had extended his contract several times, and he had been given performance bonuses and a raise during this period.

A presidential candidate is required to have had experience as the chairman or CEO of a statutory board or of a company with a paid-up capital of at least S$100 million.