On July 1, a live debate featuring four candidates from different political parties was aired on TV.

The people involved were: Vivian Balakrishnan (People's Action Party), Jamus Lim (Workers' Party), Francis Yuen (Progress Singapore Party), Chee Soon Juan (Singapore Democratic Party)

In case you missed it, here are some highlights, like Vivian saying that the WP manifesto could have been written by the PAP, as well as some positive responses towards WP's Lim.

In response to this whole debate, a debate coach Samuel Myat San has weighed in with his verdict on each of the candidates.

Here's his ranking and reasoning.

#1: Jamus Lim

Pros: If WP's goal was to establish themselves as legitimate and serious, they would need to be able to show that they have studied key policy differences. All whilst sounding reasonable. Lim "met that defined goal, offering critical policy nuances".

Cons: Lim was clearly more nervous in the beginning and "gesticulating too much".

Props to his "masterful" ending, though, where Lim said:

"We don’t mind giving the PAP a mandate. We just don’t want to give it a blank cheque.”

#2: Vivian Balakrishnan

Pros: He appeared to be the most prepared for most of the debate, with "ready answers" for most of the critiques of PAP policy. He also spoke in a "cordial" manner, was "calm and collected", and managed to maintain eye contact and smile.

Cons: His end performance. "Vivian lost his cool," and started "frowning" and "interrupting" Chee. This, unfortunately, "undid a lot of the positive portrayal he had carefully built up".

#3: Chee Soon Juan

Pros: At the start, Chee appeared to be "playing ball, keeping calm and making his statements policy based".

Cons: As the debate went on, he seemed to have "shifted back to just attacking the PAP" – this did not help to create the impression that the SDP is policy based.

Overall? "He might have been happy just to have successfully provoked a reaction from Vivian," Samuel said.

#4: Francis Yuen

Pros: Yuen did not do anything "terribly".

Cons: It is critical for an opposition party to create a distinct value proposition. However, Yuen failed to "set the PSP apart from other parties".

Samuel also highlighted some key moments and observations from the debate in his Facebook post.

He also said that he hopes that CNA will have more debates like these in future elections.

Here's his full post: