Singapore: Voting underway in presidential election

Voting is currently underway in the presidential election as Singaporeans on Friday cast their ballot for the country's ninth President, Channel News Asia (CNA) reported.

The 2023 Presidential Election candidates are former GIC chief investment officer Ng Kok Song, former senior minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam and former NTUC Income chief executive Tan Kin Lian.

Eligible voters started casting their ballots at 8 am when polling stations opened.

But queues were already beginning to form at some stations before opening time, such as the Waterway Primary School in Punggol where a line of people could be seen waiting outside its gates.

At the start of polls, they began to build up at some locations across the island.

The Elections Department Singapore (ELD) said in a statement on Friday morning: "As voting will last until 8 pm, we advise voters to arrive at the polling station later in the day, especially in the afternoon when the queues are usually shorter, CNA reported.

"We seek voters’ patience and understanding as we clear the morning queue."

When CNA arrived at a polling station at the void deck of Block 307, Jurong East Street 32, there was a line of people waiting to cast their ballot.

A check on the ELD website at 8.35 am showed that between 141 and 160 people were in the queue. But the bottleneck seemed to clear about 15 minutes later.

One voter who arrived at 8:12 am told CNA that he waited for about an hour for his turn, adding that he needed to cast his ballot in the morning as he had to head off to work.

Likewise, a queue of between 80 and 100 people was forming at Geylang Serai Community Club during the opening hour. A few senior citizens could be seen sitting on chairs while waiting for their turn.

The line started to subside just before 9 am.