Shortly after presidential candidate Tan Kin Lian conceded defeat in the election, he put up a survey on his blog to ask netizens for feedback on his campaign.
Tan's survey has since received more than 100 responses and he has since closed it.
After looking through the survey results, Tan has put up a list of positive and negative points in his campaign.
The negative points include his habitual excessive blinking, as well as his hi-five greeting which was deemed unsuitable for adults. He adds that handshakes are better.
His pronunciation of English was highlighted as another factor.
Netizens also said he should not have touched on the weaknesses of other candidates in his TV broadcast on the eve of Polling Day, instead he should have focused on his own strengths.
He should also not have attacked fellow candidate Tan Jee Say by saying that the latter entering the contest was a low point and a blow for him.
Finally, netizens said that Tan had over-promised in his campaign. Tan had earlier suggested that the pay of national servicemen should be increased and pensions should be introduced for those aged above 75.
Tan also blamed his poor showing on a survey by the popular Yahoo website. An earlier survey on the website had put Tan as the weakest among the four candidates with just 5% of support. Tan believes that this is a major factor that contributed to his loss as the survey had created the impression that he was the weakest candidate. He believes that this had caused many voters to change camps to back more popular candidates.
In the same survey, netizens also commented on Tan's positive points. These include his sincerity, his concern for others, his focus on public service, good ideas from him and that he was the only candidate who can speak in four languages.
Tan Kin Lian had the worst showing in this election, garnering only 4.9% of the vote-share. He also lost his $48,000 election deposit as his vote-share was below the mandated 12.5% necessary to have the deposit returned. Link
