Tan Cheng Bock v AG [2017] SGCA 50 have the direct mandate of the people and with it the democratic legitimacy and the moral authority to block the elected Government should the need arise. At the same time, it was thought necessary to balance this by ensuring that the President so elected would be suitably qualified to exercise these custodial powers. Hence, another critical feature of the 1991 Amendment was the introduction of stringent eligibility criteria that any aspiring candidate for the Elected Presidency would have to satisfy, and a pre-qualification process to verify that such criteria were in fact met. 14 The new provisions on the Elected Presidency came into operation while President Wee was still in his second (and last) term of office. The 1991 Amendment therefore included a transitional provision which provided that President Wee would continue to hold the office for the remainder of his term and would exercise, perform and discharge the functions, powers and duties conferred or imposed on the President following the 1991 Amendment. That transitional provision was Art 163 of the Constitution, which we will return to later in this judgment. 15 Following the completion of President Wee’s last term of office, the first President elected to the office by the citizens of Singapore was President Ong, who served one term from 1 September 1993 to 31 August 1999. He was succeeded by President Nathan, who served two terms from 1 September 1999 to 31 August 2011. President Tan, the incumbent President, became President on 1 September 2011 and his term of office will expire on 31 August 2017. 16 The next significant event occurred in 2016. The President’s custodial powers had been refined and in some respects narrowed through various constitutional amendments made after the 1991 Amendment, but 2016 was especially significant because of the comprehensive review of the Elected 7