Voters lukewarm on eve of elections

5 December, 2007 – With just 26 days to go, the clock is ticking fast as Bhutan heads towards the National Council election, scheduled for December 31, marking the start of Bhutan’s historic parliamentary elections.

There are 312,817 eligible voters, according to the election commission and, if Thimphu’s main street is anything to go by, the election will see more confusion than reason.

Kuensel spoke to 71 people from all walks of life along Norzin Lam in Thimphu in a random sample survey early this week.

Fifty-seven of them did not know the date of the National Council Elections. Forty-seven could not name a single candidate, even those contesting in their gewogs or dzongkhags. Fifty-three said that they were “not sure” about going to polls.

Out of the 53 who said they would not go to vote, 34 quoted distance to their polling station, transportation cost, and inconvenience as their reasons. The rest said that they could not afford to go to their dzongkhags “just to vote”.

Meanwhile, civil servants and corporate employees were more aware. Out of 57 people interviewed (different from the street interviewees), 43 knew the candidate or candidates contesting in their gewogs, although some could remember only their first name. However, most of them said that they would not go to the polling stations if they did not get the postal ballot.

Many corporate employees said that their heads of company were applying for postal ballots for them. “I’m not interested in politics,” said a Bank of Bhutan employee. “If it’s not compulsory, I’ll not vote.”

For many people, the NC elections would be an excuse to visit their villages and meet relatives. Shopkeepers were more interested in finding out if there were consequences for not voting.

Kuensel also found out that many respondents did not consider the NC elections as important as the National Assembly elections. Many said that they would vote during the Assembly elections.

A sense that the NC election was overshadowed by party politics was evident. When asked the name of NC candidates many gave the names of party candidates. Going by Thimphu’s response, Bhutanese voters will need convincing to go to the first election in the kingdom’s history.