SINGAPORE - If elected as president, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam said he will work respectfully with the Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA), which the head of state must consult when exercising powers related to fiscal spending and the appointment of key office holders.

The former senior minister, 66, said the president does not have a complete say over issues, and the council is an important part of the constitutional checks and balances against the office.

“The president has very important discretionary power, but the CPA is an important institution, and it was designed that way,” Mr Tharman told reporters on Saturday, when asked how he intends to work with the council and maintain his independence if elected.

“But as you know, no one in the bureaucracy or anywhere else can fool me on any matter to do with government finances,” he added during a walkabout at Tiong Bahru market, pointing to the time he spent as finance minister from 2007 to 2015, and his appointment as deputy prime minister between 2011 and 2019.

The president holds the “second key” to the nation’s coffers, and he or she can veto the Government’s annual spending plans if they are of the opinion that it is likely to draw down on the past reserves.

However, if the CPA disagrees with the veto, Parliament may vote to overrule the president through a motion supported by at least two-thirds of the total number of MPs, excluding nominated MPs.

The CPA, which is currently chaired by former Public Service Commission (PSC) chairman Eddie Teo, comprises eight members and two alternate members.

Of the eight members, three are appointed by the president at his or her discretion, three by the prime minister, and one each by the Chief Justice and the chairman of the PSC.

On Saturday, Mr Tharman was also asked about the role of the president as a unifying figure and how he would work across the political divide if elected.

The former Cabinet minister said this is something he believes in, and his track record speaks for itself.

“The way I’ve treated the Opposition all through the years in Parliament – individual opposition members, how I’ve treated them through the years. They, themselves, have spoken about it in some instances,” he added.

Mr Tharman also said that differences of views are part of democracy.

“By nature, I’m someone who just enjoys finding ways to bridge differences. So that’s just been my style... Sometimes you can’t bridge them immediately, but we’re all Singaporeans together. Remember that.

“We’re all partisans for Singapore, and that unites us,” he added.

At a dialogue session organised by the National University of Singapore Society on Friday, Mr Ng Kok Song – one of the two other candidates contesting the presidential election – had suggested that a conflict of interest would be “quite likely” if a president has worked with or was a mentor of the prime minister.

Mr Tharman was asked to respond to this, as well as earlier comments by Mr Ng that presidential candidates who resign from political appointments shortly before being nominated “miss the spirit” of the constitutional requirement that the elected president be non-partisan.

On the issue of conflict of interest, Mr Tharman said this might happen with “weak individuals” and a president who does not know how to stand his ground.

“That’s certainly not going to be the case with me,” he said.

On partisanship, he said the presidential election is too important a contest to reduce to “the simplicity of past affiliations”.

“You can’t look, in an artificial way, at past affiliations – which party we were once part of, or maybe which party we voted for,” Mr Tharman said.

“It would have been a great pity if we had to rule out Mr Ong Teng Cheong, Mr Tan Cheng Bock and several others, including most of the people who are in the public sector track who weren’t ministers, but whose positions were that because they were appointed by ministers.”

Both Mr Ong and Mr Tan were members of the ruling People’s Action Party.

Mr Tharman on Saturday urged voters to focus on the individual, their character and what they are bringing for the future.

He said: “You can’t rule everyone out.”