Singapore's former deputy prime minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected president Friday, earning a landslide victory in the city-state's first contested
Singapore’s former deputy prime minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam was elected president Friday, earning a landslide victory in the city-state’s first contested vote for the largely ceremonial position in more than a decade.
His main rival Ng Kok Song, a former chief investment officer of Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC, which manages the country’s foreign reserves, conceded after winning only 15.7 percent of the vote. While the presidency is a non-partisan post under the constitution, political lines had already been drawn ahead of the election to replace incumbent Halimah Yacob, who ran unopposed for her six-year term in 2017.Shanmugaratnam was widely viewed as the favourite for the position and had resigned as a member of the ruling People’s Action Party and as a senior minister in the cabinet ahead of the election as all presidential candidates must be independent.
The United States sent a congratulatory message to Shanmugaratnam that pointed to “mutual respect, shared values and common interests” with Singapore.
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