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Tharman leads Singapore presidential race in sample count

01 Sep 2023 11:55pm
Presidential candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam meets his supporters while waiting for the Presidential election results in Singapore on Sept 1, 2023. - Photo by Roslan Rahman / AFP
Presidential candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam meets his supporters while waiting for the Presidential election results in Singapore on Sept 1, 2023. - Photo by Roslan Rahman / AFP
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SINGAPORE - A sample count done by the Elections Department (ELD) Friday indicates Tharman Shanmugaratnam is ahead in the race for the ninth president of Singapore.

As at 10.45 pm, the former senior minister received 70 per cent votes while former Group Chief Investment Officer of GIC Pte Ltd Ng Kok Song (16 per cent) and former Chief Executive Officer of NTUC Income Insurance Co-operative Ltd Tan Kin Lian (14 per cent).

"As this is a sample count, the election result could be different. Counting is still in progress. The public should wait for the announcement of the election result by the Returning Officer Tan Meng Dui, which will be broadcast ‘live’ on television,” said ELD in a statement Friday.

The sample count is performed at the start of the counting process where a random bundle of 100 ballot papers from each polling station is counted to get an early indication of the possible electoral outcome for the election. There are 215 counting centres across Singapore.

A Singaporean statesman and economist, Tharman, 66, served as Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister between 2011 and 2019, and as Senior Minister in the Cabinet between 2019 and 2023.

His other roles include Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore between 2011 and 2023, and Deputy Chairman of GIC between 2019 and 2023.

Being a former member of Singapore's governing People's Action Party (PAP), he was a Member of Parliament (MP) representing the Taman Jurong division of Jurong GRC between 2001 and 2023.

He made his political debut in the 2001 general election and was re-elected to Parliament four times at subsequent general elections in 2006, 2011, 2015, and 2020.

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In July 2023, Tharman stepped down from Parliament and all his positions in the government and resigned as a member of the PAP in order to stand as a candidate in the presidential election.

As at 5 pm, 2,302,996 Singaporeans have cast their votes at the 1,264 polling stations islandwide.

This is about 85 per cent of the total number of eligible electors, said ELD. - BERNAMA

Tharman Shanmugaratnam
Singapore
Presidential Election
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