Singaporeans Elect Former Deputy Prime Minister As New President

Ruling People’s Action Party candidate Tharman Shanmugaratnam won Singapore’s three-way presidential election by a wide margin on Friday.

The former deputy prime minister and finance minister Shanmugaratnam, 66, gained 70.4 percent votes, Ng Kok Song, a former banker, 15.7 percent; and Kin Lian, a candidate for the presidency in 2011, 13.9 percent.

“I believe that it’s a vote of confidence in Singapore. It’s a vote of optimism for a future in which we can progress together and support each other as Singaporeans. “I’m humbled by this vote. It is not just a vote for me; it is a vote for Singapore’s future,” Shanmugaratnam said in a speech before the results were announced.

Shanmugaratnam’s performance was partly a referendum on the PAP’s performance, said Associate Professor Walid Jumblatt Abdullah of Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.

“I wouldn’t say support for the PAP is fervent, but resentment toward the PAP is obviously not fervent. There is no doubt Tharman is more popular than his party, but at the very least it shows that the party brand is not toxic so that association with it drags a person down.”