SINGAPORE: As the campaign period for the Presidential Election 2023 winds down, one hopeful, Mr. Tan Kin Lian, has decided to suspend walkabouts and has asked volunteers to give out fliers instead.
This is the second presidential bid for Mr Tan, the former CEO of insurer NTUC Income. In 2011, he came in fourth out of four candidates, getting less than five percent of the vote. However, this time around, he has gotten an endorsement from Dr Tan Cheng Bock and Mr. Tan Jee Say, two of the three other presidential candidates in 2011, although whether this results in additional support from voters remains to be seen when more than 2.7 million Singaporeans troop to the polls on Friday, Sept 1.
Mr Tan, 75, who has been on walkabouts all around Singapore nearly every day since the campaign kicked off on Nomination Day on Aug 22, said earlier this week that he is canceling the walkabouts on the remaining days of the campaign period.
Candidates may only campaign until Wednesday (Aug 30) because the day before the election (Aug 31) is Cooling-off Day.
“In the final 3 days of our campaign, our team will be focusing on distributing our campaign flyers at HDB heartlands and MRT stations throughout various parts of Singapore. As such the original walkabouts plans have been cancelled in order for us to concentrate our efforts in this final lap.
Meanwhile, the candidate’s supporters were asked in a separate WhatsApp group chat to “Please turn up as usual, as if it is a walkabout,” in order to distribute Mr Tan’s campaign materials such as fliers in various areas around the country for the remaining days of the campaign.
/TISG
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