The Presidential Election (PE) 2023 saw Tharman Shanmugaratnam emerge victorious with 70.4% of the votes.
Winning a total of 1,746,427 out of 2,480,760 votes, it was a landslide victory for the former Senior Minister.
His opponents, Mr Tan Kin Lian and Mr Ng Kok Song, had comparatively claimed less than 20% of the votes each.
In fact, it’s also the largest margin of victory for any president of Singapore, with other contested elections being a tighter race for candidates.
At about 10.45pm on 1 Sep, the sample count of the votes from the presidential election revealed Mr Tharman to be in the lead with 70% of the votes.
Mr Ng and Mr Tan trailed behind with 16% and 14% respectively.
The results of the election eventually came in early on 2 Sep morning, with Mr Tharman having won 1,746,427 votes — 70.4% of the total share.
In comparison, Mr Ng had 390,041 votes, garnering 15.72% of the pie.
Meanwhile, Mr Tan gained 344,292 votes, which made up 13.88%.
With a margin of victory of 54.68% over Mr Ng and 56.52% over Mr Tan, it is officially the largest in Singapore’s history.
Since the first presidential election, Singapore has only seen two contested races, according to the Elections Department Singapore (ELD).
Both contests, however, were notably tighter than this year’s sweep by Mr Tharman.
Back in 2011, Dr Tony Tan won 35.20% of the share with 745,693 votes, gaining a slight edge over Dr Tan Cheng Bock who had garnered 738,311 votes, or 34.85%.
Source: Al Jazeera
During that same election, Mr Tan Jee Say achieved 530,441 votes, translating to a percentage of 25.04%. Mr Tan Kin Lian comparatively had the least number of votes with 104,095, 4.91% of the share.
The other contested election was in 1993, which the late Mr Ong Teng Cheong won with 952,513 votes, a sizeable 58.69%.
This was 282,155 votes more than his opponent, the late Mr Chua Kim Yeow, who had 670,358 votes — 41.31% of electors.
These figures, consequently, highlight the significance of Mr Tharman’s victory.
With a lion’s share of the votes, it is evident to see that he won over Singaporeans in the run-up to the election.
Speaking to the media after his triumph, Mr Tharman said he felt humbled by the support citizens had given him.
He added, “It’s a vote for optimism for a future in which we can progress together and support each other as Singaporeans.”
“I pledge, and it will be my duty, to use the roles and responsibilities of the President to advance this future of optimism and solidarity among Singaporeans.”
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Featured image by MS News.
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