-Galla S Kiran Kumar,Bureau Chief Telagana (Andhra Pradesh)
Indian-origin economist Tharman Shanmugaratnam (66) won the presidential election in Singapore.
3rd President of Indian origin
Singapore: Indian-origin economist Tharman Shanmugaratnam (66) won the Singapore presidential election results. It is remarkable that he got more than 70 percent of the votes in the election results revealed on Friday. Out of 20,48,000 votes cast, 70.4 percent votes (17,46,427) were cast in support of former minister Shanmugaratnam. According to the election department, his opponents, candidates of Chena descent, Ng Kak Song and Tan Kin Lian got 15.72 percent and 13.88 percent of votes respectively. With these results announced by the returning officer, the election of Shanmugaratnam as the third president of Indian origin of Singapore was finalized. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong congratulated him on this occasion. The People’s Action Party (PAP) headed by Prime Minister Lee stood by Shanmugaratnam in this election. In the past S. Ramanathan and Devan Nair of Indian origin served as presidents of Singapore.
From Economist to President…: Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who was elected as the 9th President of Singapore, served as the Deputy Prime Minister of Singapore from 2011 to 2019. Between 2019 and 2023, he served as a senior minister in the cabinet. Shanmugaratnam, internationally renowned as a leading economist, was born in 1957 in a settled Tamil family in Singapore. Graduated from London School of Economics. Later, he did Master of Philosophy in Economics from Cambridge University and Master in Public Administration from Harvard University. He was active in sports during his student days. Tharman Shanmugaratnam is the son of Professor K. Shanmugaratnam, a medical scientist known as “Father of Pathology in Singapore”. He married Jane Yumiko Ittogi, a local lawyer.
