SINGAPORE — Presidential candidate Ng Kok Song has conceded defeat to rival Tharman Shanmugaratnam, after the sample count released by the Elections Department Singapore showed that the former Cabinet minister had received a big majority of 70 per cent of votes counted so far. 

Mr Ng told reporters at close to 11pm on Friday (Sept 1) night that in a phone call with Mr Tharman after the sample count was announced at around 10.40pm, he congratulated the former senior minister for his “magnificent victory”.

The sample count showed that Mr Ng, 75, had received 16 per cent of the votes counted.

“I've decided to concede to Tharman because I do not want to keep all of you from your bedtime,” he said. “As far as I'm concerned, there's no need to wait a few more hours for the final result. The result is clear.”

Mr Ng noted that when Mr Tharman first announced his intention to run for President, Mr Tharman had said he wanted a contest so that when elected, he would have the mandate of Singaporeans. 

“I'm delighted for him and glad for him that he has indeed earned a mandate from the people of Singapore,” Mr Ng said. 

“When I came forward to stand for the presidency, I said that my number one goal was to ensure that the people of Singapore could redeem their right to vote in this Presidential Election. I think I have accomplished that goal because the Presidential Election did take place today.”

Mr Ng heard the news of the sample count in a room at the office of Gushcloud International, a social media agency that handled his online campaign, where he had gathered with his supporters to wait for the results of the polls.

He was with about 30 people comprising his family, social media team, supporters and volunteers.

When he first saw the sample count, he nodded his head lightly before giving a wry smile, as his supporters remained largely silent, taking in the news. 

He then went into a private room with some close family and friends for about 10 minutes before emerging again to speak to the media. 

When asked whether the results reflected that Singaporean voters were rejecting the message of his campaign, Mr Ng responded: "I don't think Singaporeans rejected the idea, the principle of non-partisanship. I think the seed has been sown.

"The word 'non-partisanship' will now enter the vocabulary of governance in Singapore and my hope is that this... will grow over time and that, I think, will contribute to the further maturing of the political process in Singapore."

Mr Ng then thanked the Singaporeans who had voted for him, his character referees and assenters who supported him in his nomination. 

“These Singaporeans put their names behind my name and lifted me up from a relative nobody to a somebody,” the former chief investment officer of sovereign wealth fund GIC said. 

He also expressed his gratitude to his campaign workers, including his advisers, security officers, “young social media warriors”, car drivers as well as his family and his pets — Cotton the dog and Max the cat — “for comforting me and being there for me always”.

“And certainly, I owe the deepest gratitude to my fiancee Sybil (Lau), who sacrificed her private life to work with me and stand by me,” he added.

After thanking all those who had supported his campaign, he was given a round of applause by his supporters before he concluded his remarks and left the venue with Ms Lau at about 11.15pm. 

Slightly over an hour later, Returning Officer Tan Meng Dui announced officially that Mr Ng had garnered 15.72 per cent of the votes, ahead of the 13.88 won by Mr Tan Kin Lian, 75, the former chief executive officer of NTUC Income insurance cooperative.

Mr Tharman's official vote tally was 70.4 per cent.

WHAT SUPPORTERS SAY

Mr Ng's supporters had mixed reactions over Mr Tharman's win.

Mr Phillip Tay, 74, said he felt that right from the start, it was a “David versus Goliath” battle, and so it was not surprising that the victory margin was so large. 

Mr Tay, who had supported Mr Ng because he was a childhood friend, believed nonetheless that Mr Tharman would make "a good President". 

“There is no doubt, he has consistently been a favourite,” the chief executive officer of a shipping firm said. “As Kok Song said, (Tharman) wanted a fight, and Kok Song came forward and gave him a good fight.”

Agreeing, a young supporter, who wanted to be known only as Harry, said that the relatively low vote share won by Mr Ng was partly due to an “imbalance of resources” between Mr Ng and the other candidate. 

During the campaign period, Mr Ng did not put up any posters and banners, saying that there was a lack of manpower and resources to put up such campaigning material, as well as to be more environmentally friendly, among other reasons.

The 28-year-old, who works in the medical industry, continued: “A lot of Ng Kok Song's credibility as an individual in his area of expertise that was relevant to the role of the presidency was easily overlooked in the campaign as a whole.”

Still, there were some supporters who were surprised at the low vote share.

An allied health professional who gave her name as just CT said: “It was slightly shocking as I thought he would’ve garnered more votes considering how well he carried himself during his campaign.” 

The 28-year-old added that she had supported Mr Ng after watching his speeches during the campaigning period, and was heartened by how he had worked his way up from humble beginnings. 

She also said that although Mr Ng had a good grasp of how to handle the reserves from his experience at GIC, she believed it was ultimately Mr Tharman’s higher exposure in the public arena that made a difference. 

“I myself was torn choosing between the two (Mr Ng and Mr Tharman), and I believe that Mr Tharman will be a great President for Singapore.”