NA elections take pace
As part of the second parliamentary elections, Bhutan is holding primary round of National Assembly elections on May 31. This round of election will determine the fate of lucky two parties who will be represented in the lower house.
The ‘election culture’ has gradually started to evolve – the culture of spiting each other for several contentious issues. There hasn’t been any report of major accidents but the parties, in their common forum and individual campaign trails, have vividly express rivalry in speech and action.
The biggest issue raised was whether a common forum is conducive for parties to campaign. The former opposition and new parties’ candidates have accused the former ruling parties of its misconduct thus making the DPT fear of loosing its hold among voters.
There is no clear picture of who will appear to win in the election. Considering the outcome of National Council, where most former members lost in the battleground, DPT fear it might face similar fate. While assumed to be the weakest one in the run Bhutan Kueng-nam Party (BKP) was disallowed from contesting citing incomplete list of candidates, DCT is pitched as the party of inexperienced.
Former opposition PDP has not appeared to be so strong either. DNT has few well-known figure but again voters’ no-love with females in NC elections might appear as thorny issue for female-led DNT.
There isn’t equal women participation in the contest. And Nepali-speaking population in south are loosing their hold in the party politics as well. It is likely to have lesser representation of this suppressed ethnic group in the new NA.
The population dynamics of the districts have changed in the last five years but the election commission did not concern about re-mapping constituencies based on changed population figures. Trashigang has five members representing the district in NA while Samchi, which has more population than Trashigang has only four representations.
Rather Election Commission silently changed names of many constituencies.
Goenkhatoe-Laya in Gasa district was renamed Khatoed Laya and
Goenkhamey-Lunana of the same district renamed as Khamaed Lunana.
Most Nepali-sounding names in south have been modified to sound Dzongkha. Pagli-Samchi constituency in Samchi (Samtse) has been renamed as Phuentshogpelri Samtse, Sipsu renamed as Tashichhoeling and Dorokha-Tading constituency of the district is renamed as Dophuchen Tading
Pataley-Tsirangtoe constituency in Chirang (Tsirang) has been given the new name Sergithang-Tsirangtoed.
To know just be members of different parties clink below.
Druk Chirwang Tshogpa
Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa
Druk Phunsum Tshogpa
People’s Democratic Party
To read detailed biographies of the contesting candidates, click here.
Clink below to read the party charters approved by the election commission.
Druk Chirwang Tshogpa
Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa
Druk Phunsum Tshogpa
People’s Democratic Party
To read the political manifestos of the parties for this year’s election, click below.
Druk Chirwang Tshogpa
Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa
Druk Phunsum Tshogpa
People’s Democratic Party
Click Here to see the final results after the July 13 elections