Singapore erupted in excited chatter when Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced on June 8 that he was resigning from his post as Senior Minister to run for president.

Understandably so, because both opinion polls and election results over the years have indicated that he was the most popular People’s Action Party (PAP) politician. In the last general election in 2020, he led Jurong GRC to a solid 74.62 per cent victory – the highest for the party.