Ng Kok Song and Tan Kin Lian cast their vote; ELD reports over 50% turnout

SINGAPORE: Presidential Candidates for the 2023 Presidential Election, Tan Kin Lian and Ng Kok Song, were captured by the media as they made their way to the polling station on the morning of Friday (1 Sept).

Tan Kin Lian, the former NTUC Income chief at the age of 75, along with his wife Tay Siew Hong, 67, and their son and daughter-in-law, arrived at Anderson Serangoon Junior College to cast their votes at around 9:15 am.

In an interview with the media, Tan Kin Lian expressed his satisfaction with the voting and arrangement processes, highlighting their ease and effectiveness.

The 75-year-old added that as a senior citizen, he was given priority to vote.

When questioned about his prospects, he responded, “Tonight, we will know.”

He said he was not feeling nervous and had followed his usual routine in the morning, which included waking up at 4 a.m., having a sandwich, and consuming bird’s nest and essence of chicken prepared by his wife.

On the other hand, Tan’s rival, Ng Kok Song, was spotted heading to the Katong polling station at approximately 10:20 am to cast his vote.

Speaking to reporters, Ng expressed his positive mood and shared his plan to visit different polling stations throughout the day to interact with people.

He added that he plans to visit various polling stations for the rest of the day, and greet people while walking around.

Regarding his confidence, Ng remarked, “It’s up to the people of Singapore.”

Prominent political figures in the city-state, as noted by media coverage, were witnessed casting their votes this morning.

Mdm Halimah Yaacob, Singapore’s eighth President, arrived at Chung Cheng High School (Main) on Goodman Road around 8:15 am, accompanied by her husband, Mr Mohamed Abdullah Alhabshee.

Simultaneously, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his wife Ho Ching appeared at Crescent Girls’ School in Tanglin around 9:30 a.m. to cast their votes.

As voting is currently underway in the city-state of Singapore, citizens are tasked with electing their ninth president from a pool of three candidates: Mr Ng Kok Song (75), the former GIC investment chief; Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam (66), a former senior minister of the People’s Action Party; and Mr Tan Kin Lian (75), the former NTUC Income chief.

There are a total of 2,709,455 eligible voters in the updated voter rolls – an increase of over 55,000 people from the 2,653,942 electors in GE2020.

As per the updates provided by the Elections Department (ELD), by noon, a total of 1,406,182 Singaporeans had participated in casting their votes across the 1,264 polling stations located throughout the island.

This turnout represents approximately 52 per cent of the overall count of eligible electors.