Singaporeans vote for president; Indian-origin ex-minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam in the race

In a massive turnout, Singaporeans cast their votes on Friday (September 1) in the nation's first contested presidential election in over a decade. This closely-monitored three-way contest features former minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who aspires to become the next Singaporean president of Indian origin.

Eligible voters started casting their ballots at 8 a.m. when polling stations opened. Voting is compulsory for which the Government has declared a public holiday on Friday.

As of 3 pm, 2,004,961 Singaporeans – or about 74 per cent of the total number of eligible electors – had voted, said the Elections Department (ELD).

More than 2.7 million Singaporeans are expected to vote and the polling stations will be open until 8 pm, after which counting of the votes will begin.

After polls close on Friday, Singaporeans will get an early indication of the outcome of the presidential election at around 10 pm to 11 pm, before the final count is in.

The ELD website will publish the results of a sample count, which is expected to be completed two to three hours after polling closes at 8 p.m., according to a report by The Straits Times.

A sample count helps to prevent speculation and misinformation from unofficial sources while counting is underway before it is completed and election results are announced, said the ELD website.

There is a 95 per cent confidence rate for the way the sample count is done here, and the margin of error is 4 percentage points. This means that the sample count estimate should not differ from the actual voting result by more than 4 per cent for 95 per cent of the estimates made.

Apart from Tharman, two other candidates in the race for the country's ninth President are Ng Kok Song, a former chief investment officer with the Government of Singapore Investment Corp (GIC), and Tan Kin Lian, the former chief of the NTUC Income, a state-owned union-based insurance group.

Incumbent President Halimah Yacob's six-year term will end on September 13.

She is the country's eighth and first female president. The 2017 presidential poll was a reserved election, in which only members of the Malay community were allowed to contest. Halimah was named president then as there were no other candidates.

After a shaky start, plagued by issues with the voter registration system and subsequent long queues, lines at polling centres eased by around 10 a.m.

Among those who turned up at the polling stations early in the morning were President Halimah and Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.

A total of 31 special polling stations have been set up in nursing homes for the Presidential Election.

This is the first contested presidential election since 2011.

Tharman, 66, an Indian-origin Singapore-born economist, formally launched his presidential campaign in July with a pledge to evolve the country's culture to keep it a "shining spot" in the world.

The three candidates have been chosen under strict criteria. Singapore has a stringent qualification process for candidates vying for the presidency.

Tharman, who joined politics in 2001, has served in the public sector and ministerial positions with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) for over two decades.

Tharman supports his qualification to be the next president of the prosperous state by citing his international experience across various fields including pandemic preparedness and human development.

He also has experience in the government and with the city state’s foreign reserves, estimated to be over Singapore dollars 2 trillion.

Tan pointed to his 30-year experience as chief executive of NTUC Income.

While Ng and Tan have maintained their “no-political affiliation”, Tharman, who served as Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister between 2011-2019, resigned in July from public and political posts to run for the presidency.

Singapore in the past had two Indian-origin presidents.

Sellapan Ramanathan, popularly known as S R Nathan, a Singaporean politician and civil servant of Tamil descent has served as the president of Singapore. In 2009, Nathan defeated Benjamin Sheares to become Singapore's longest-serving president.

Chengara Veetil Devan Nair, better known as Devan Nair, served as the third president of Singapore from 1981 until his resignation in 1985. Born in 1923 in Malacca, Malaysia, Nair was the son of a rubber plantation clerk, who was originally from Thalassery, Kerala.

There were several new features introduced this year to improve the voting process.

Voters can present their digital National Registration Identity Card (NRIC) and ePoll card via the Singpass app instead of bringing the physical cards to their polling stations.

A self-inking X-stamp to be used on the ballot paper was also introduced.

Indian-origin retiree Kathirithamby Ramakrishnan, 74, who was the first person in the queue with his wife and son at Chung Cheng High School (Main) in Goodman Road, said he had no problem with the new X-stamp because the ink was still fresh.

The marks made by the X-stamp are permanent, said the ELD.

The statement on Thursday was issued in response to false news resurfacing online that the new X-stamp provided for voting has been "treated with disappearing ink".

"The ELD would like to state categorically that this is not true," said the department.

The ink used in the X-stamp is oil-based and water- and temperature-resistant.

The stamp was introduced last month as a replacement for the X-pen, which was used in general elections 2020. The ELD had said some voters mistook the X-pen to be an actual pen and tried to write a cross with it.

First-time voter Aroni Sarkar, a student who voted at Katong Community Centre, said the process went smoothly. Staff at the polling station verified her NRIC and polling card manually after a lag in the digital system.

Sarkar, 23, and her parents arrived at 8.10 a.m. and queued for about 30 minutes.

She said: “It was streamlined, focused, and smooth.” The president has a mainly ceremonial role in the city-state with few powers and little say in public affairs.

However, the presidential election is being seen as a referendum on the party that has ruled the island nation for more than six decades. The next general election is due in Singapore by 2025.

Chinese people account for about 75 per cent of Singapore's multi-racial population. An estimated 13.5 per cent are Malays and about nine per cent are Indians, with others making up the remainder.

This year, the election was opened to all ethnicities.

Singapore, with no resources, sits in the midst of resource-rich Asia and has grown into an Asian financial hub with links to the world’s two largest markets - China and India.

The first presidential election in Singapore was held on August 28, 1993.

(With agency inputs)