Bangkok Post

Tony Tan shakes the hands of supporters at a stadium in Singapore early on August 28, 2011. Tan, a veteran politician and banker, was declared the winner of Singapore's presidential election on August 28 after a recount gave him a razor-thin margin that exposed a sharply split electorate.

Three months after the opposition claimed a historic breakthrough in parliamentary polls, former deputy prime minister Tony Tan was elected president with a margin of just 7,269 votes out of 2.1 million ballots cast.

The 71-year-old banker took just over 35 percent of the vote, well below the 60 percent garnered by the ruling People's Action Party (PAP) in general elections in May, when the party had its worst showing of 52 years in power.

At a news conference Sunday, Tan said Singaporeans have become more vocal and this could make governing "a bit more difficult" but he also welcomed the development because it is part of a maturing democracy.

"Singaporeans are more vocal, they want to make their views known," said Tan, who also sought to mend fences with those who did not vote for him.

"I think that's a good thing, we should have a diversity of views in Singapore. It enriches our society, it makes Singapore more vibrant."

Tan recognised that "there has been much change in the political landscape in the past few months", adding that he thought civil society had influenced these developments.

"We need to work together," he said.

Song Seng Wun, a Singapore-based regional economist with financial group CIMB, said the result of Saturday's four-way race for the largely ceremonial role was a further sign of the ruling party losing its iron grip on power.

"It shows that the stranglehold of the PAP is no longer as firm as it was in the last four decades," he told AFP.

"Only one in three voters chose the winner who is closely associated with the government. Two out of three chose somebody else and that's quite telling."

Bridget Welsh, a political science professor at the Singapore Management University, said Singaporeans "are tired of elitism" and Tan was seen as a representative of the political establishment.

"Singaporeans want more checks on PAP," she said, adding that voters now felt "empowered" and no longer afraid to speak up for change.

His showing was sharply lower than the 54 percent of the vote taken by Ong Teng Cheong when he won the last contested presidential poll in 1993 with the PAP's backing.

Analysts said Tan could have lost in a straight one-on-one fight.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong appealed for national unity after an intense campaign dominated by calls from government critics for a politically independent president who can act as a check on the PAP.

The Elections Department ordered a recount of all votes cast after the first tally showed the two frontrunners were less than two percent apart.

Presidential candidates run as individuals in keeping with the non-partisan nature of the job, but Tony Tan was widely associated with the PAP -- he quit the party only in June to run for president.

His closest rival was former MP Tan Cheng Bock, a plain-speaking doctor who positioned himself as a champion of ordinary Singaporeans and called for a clear separation between the presidency and the government, despite being a former PAP member himself.

The president, who is elected for a six-year term, has veto powers over key government appointments and safeguards Singapore's foreign reserves, which now total around $250 billion.

Elections would normally have been held for the head of state post in 1999 and 2005 but on both occasions only one candidate -- a former civil servant seen as close to the PAP -- was deemed fit to run and took office unopposed.

Until Saturday's vote, there was limited interest in the presidency, which was widely seen as a ceremonial job involving state visits and fundraisers.

But emotions were still running high three-and-a-half months after the May general election, especially in social media and political websites that now set the tone for the national political debate.

Tony Tan served for 27 years in parliament and ran five cabinet ministries before moving on to the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC), which invests Singapore's foreign reserves.