Singapore set to vote for new president

Singaporeans will cast votes Saturday in the city-state's first contested presidential election in 18 years following a heated campaign marked by calls for stronger checks on the ruling party. Three months after a parliamentary election eroded the dominance of the People's Action Party (PAP), anti-government sentiment is still running high in online forums that now shape political debate in Singapore. Polls will open at 8:00am (0000 GMT) and close at 8:00pm. The winner is expected to be known hours after voting centres close. Four candidates are running, with about 2.35 million Singaporeans eligible to vote. The job is non-partisan and the publication of pre-election survey results is banned in Singapore, but former deputy prime minister Tony Tan, 71, who quit the PAP in June, is seen as the man to beat. Although it is a largely ceremonial post, interest in the presidency intensified after the PAP lost six parliamentary seats in May and saw its share of votes drop to an all-time low of 60 percent, from nearly 67 percent in the previous election. Analysts said voters now see the presidency as an institution that can serve as a check on the PAP, which has been in power since 1959 and was widely criticised before the May polls for its socio-economic policies as well as the rising cost of living. Voting is compulsory in Singapore, a former British colony where the president was handpicked by parliament until direct elections were introduced in 1993, when only two candidates ran. Outgoing president SR Nathan, a former civil servant perceived to be close to the PAP, was elected unopposed in 1999 and 2005. The nine-day campaign for Saturday's vote was dominated by calls for an independent president who can serve as a balancing force against the PAP. Singaporeans want an "independent fellow who is not beholden to anybody but who can speak on behalf of the people rather than a political party," said veteran political watcher Seah Chiang Nee. "A lot of people until now dare not speak against the PAP, so if you can come across someone who has the integrity and courage to speak out, people will vote for that candidate," said Seah, who runs the independent website www.littlespeck.com. The president has the power to act as a check and balance on the government, primarily as custodian of Singapore?s foreign reserves, which stood at close to $250 billion in July. He has to sign appointments of senior government, civil service, military and judicial officials and can grant clemency to criminals awaiting execution. Analysts say that even if Tan wins, his share of all votes cast will be closely watched as a measure of support for the PAP. Three lesser-known figures, all of them formerly associated with the PAP, civil service or government-linked companies, are running against Tan and took strongly critical positions against the PAP?s record. They are former legislator and ex-PAP member Tan Cheng Bock, former insurance cooperative chief executive Tan Kin Lian and former corporate executive Tan Jee Say, who also worked in the civil service.