“Is Tan Kin Lian why Tharman won?” — Singaporean asks

SINGAPORE: When a local Reddit user asked whether Mr Tan Kin Lian was responsible for why former Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam won the Presidential Election held last Friday (Sept 1), a lively discussion followed.

“Before TKL threw his hat in, my wife told me we must not vote for Tharman because she is tired of PAP always getting what they want. Her choice was George Goh.”

However, the wife of u/smongnet “suddenly changed her mind” and said they needed to vote for Mr Tharman to “prevent TKL from becoming president.” Her dislike for Mr Tan was greater than her antipathy for the governing party, he added.

“So as a couple, we voted for Tharman. Was anyone else’s vote switched to Tharman because of TKL?”

While some commenters appeared to agree with the post author, others pointed out that Mr Tharman had been the frontrunner from the beginning and would have won the election anyway.

One said this would have been so even if it had been former PAP MP Tan Cheng Bock, who had run for the presidency in 2011 and is popular among many, had contested again.

Others appeared to agree that Mr Tan Kin Lian had been a less-than-ideal candidate.

/TISG

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