Former Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam has been elected president of the country. (file)
Singapore:
Former Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected president Friday, according to official results, in the city-state’s first disputed vote for the largely ceremonial post in more than a decade.
The election administration announced the victory of the 66-year-old economist over competing candidates after obtaining 70.4 percent of the voters’ votes.
“I declare Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam as the candidate-elect as President of Singapore,” said election official Tan Meng Dwee.
Mr Shanmugaratnam replaces incumbent Halima Yacob who ran unopposed for her six-year term in 2017.
“I think it is a vote of confidence in Singapore,” Shanmugaratnam said in a speech before the results were announced. “It is a vote of optimism for a future in which we can move forward together.”
There are strict requirements for the position, which officially oversees the city’s accumulated financial reserves and has the power to veto certain actions and approve anti-corruption investigations.
Observers said Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s victory represents a boost for the ruling People’s Action Party, which is widely believed to favor his candidacy.
The party, which has ruled Singapore continuously since 1959, has been hit by a rare series of political scandals before the presidential election.
Shanmugaratnam, who is also a former finance minister, was a long-time supporter of the PAP before he resigned to run for the non-partisan position of president.
His independence was called into question during the election campaign due to his past ties with the government.
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