Presidential candidate Ng Kok Song, gave a gracious defeat speech after a sample count showed he won 16 percent of the vote.
But what he said in his speech has fueled further speculation that he was the designated “vote-spoiler”.
A “vote-spoiler” is a character sent in by the government to draw votes away from a potential winning candidate so that the government-endorsed candidate will win, according to long-running unverified conspiracy theories.
In the 2011 Presidential Election, Tan Kin Lian was accused of being the “vote-spoiler” who cost Dr Tan Cheng Bock the presidency.
In his defeat speech, Ng surprisingly dedicated a relatively long section to thanking his cats and dog.
But what has gotten some political-watchers hear pricking their ears is the part when Ng said:
“The relatively low percentage of votes that I obtained is the price I willingly paid to give Singaporeans the opportunity to exercise their right to vote. That was the ultimate objective when I decided to stand for the presidency.”
He ended off by saying that Tharman will make a “very good president”.
Throughout the PE2023 campaign, Ng has been accused by factions of the Singaporean public of being a “vote-spoiler”.
This, ever since he said that he decided to run for the presidency because Tharman “wants it”.
Added to that, Ng was endorsed by Temasek chief Ho Ching – the wife of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Ng left GIC in 2013, and went on to start his own hedge fund, Avanda, in 2015.
His company was started partly with seed money from GIC, and one year later, Temasek invested S$4 billion in Avanda.
