'We shouldn't look at presidential election through political lens': Tharman on online comments about spoiling votes

Singaporeans should not look at the presidential election "through a political lens", Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Thursday (Aug 24).

Speaking to reporters at a doorstop interview in Lau Pa Sat, the 66-year-old presidential candidate was asked about recent online chatter from some netizens, who said that they will spoil their votes this election. 

"I really don't have any comments on that at all," said Tharman. "But this is an extremely important election for our future."

Checks by AsiaOne have found that there were several comments from netizens on Reddit about the coming Presidential Election.

On a thread about former presidential hopeful George Goh's ineligibility to run, a netizen said: "Now I don't know who to vote for. None of the candidates tick the boxes for me. Maybe just spoil my vote?"

Apart from former Senior Minister Tharman, voters have a choice between ex-GIC Chief Investment Officer Ng Kok Song and former NTUC Income chief Tan Kin Lian.

One netizen expressed his dissatisfaction with some of the candidates, saying: "Look at all the threads talking about the presidential election and you'll see plenty of people saying they would either vote Tan Kin Lian or spoil their vote."

Another added: "At this rate, Mr Spoil Vote is looking like an increasingly viable candidate."

But several netizens urged Singaporeans not to spoil their votes. 

"It removes your voice from the picture," one of them said, while another said that it is important to "make your vote count". 

In the doorstop interview before his walkabout at Lau Pat Sat today, Tharman said that voters have to look at what each presidential candidate represents, has represented through their lives, and what they're bringing for the future.

"I think we should not look at it through a political lens. We're electing an individual," he said.

The last contested presidential election in 2011 went down to the wire, with Tony Tan beating Tan Cheng Bock with a razor-thin margin of just 0.35 per cent, or 7,382 votes. 

There were 37,826 rejected votes, according to the returning officer at that time. 

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chingshijie@asiaone.com