Bhutan First National Assembly Elections 2008

This is Exciting for me and for all the Bhutanese People, I was Given a Election Badge after casting my Vote, which Quote " I Voted in the National Assembly Elections 2008" , Indeed I am proud that I have my Voted for the Bhutan First Ever Democratic Elections which is Held on 24 March 2008. Well, The result was Broadcast On BBS - Bhutan Broadcasting Service and the Maximum Wins came for Druk Phunsum Tshogpa Constituency over People Democratic Party which counted from all over Bhutan. People Democratic Party Wins came From Haa and Gasa Dzongkhag (District) as of Now.

I wanted to share few Pictures from my Polling Station.

People Going For Vote

The Polling Station

Security Personal Keeping Eye on Polling Station

People Waiting in Queue to Vote

Voters Queue for their Turn to Vote

Long Queue at the Polling Station
Election Badge Provide After Casting Vote

Bhutan Election Commission Campaign on Mobile Voucher

Check this Out, Bhutan Election Commission Campaign for the 2008 in B-Mobile Pre-Paid Voucher, as it is clearly mention "Answer the National Call" and form Political Parties. Indeed Bhutan will be holding it's first Democratic Election in February 2008.

303,650 registered for National Council Election

As of August 24, 303,650 voters of the 400,626 eligible voters have registered to vote for the National Council elections in December, according to the first draft Electoral Roll, which was released by the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) yesterday, August 24.

“The number includes those who would turn 18 years by October 2007,” said the chief electoral registration officer, Thinley Wangchuk. However, the figures are subject to change with inclusions and exclusions before the final Electoral Roll is released in November.

Trashigang dzongkhag has the highest number with 33,977 registered voters. It has 45,915 eligible voters. Gasa dzongkhag with an eligible voter population of 2,083 has the lowest number of registered voters with 1,536 registered voters.

Darla gewog in Chhukha has the highest number of registered voters with 4,016 and Soe gewog in Thimphu has the lowest with 128, according to the draft Electoral Roll.

“The draft Electoral Roll for the National Council election was prepared polling-station-wise and gewog-wise and not constituency wise,” said Thinley Wangchuk.

This is because candidates contesting for a seat in the National Council will first have to be nominated by his or her gewog. The gewog nominated candidates will then go on to contest the election held in their dzongkhag. The winner becomes the National Council member from the dzongkhag.

As of yesterday, 24 people have declared their interest in contesting the National Council elections. Five dzongkhags: Thimphu, Gasa, Trongsa, Tsirang, and Trashiyangtse do not have a single candidate as yet.

For the National Assembly elections, the chief registration officer said the registered voters’ list would be prepared constituency-wise.

For the National Assembly elections, Gelephu constituency has the highest number of registered voters with 11,134 and Goenkhatoe-Laya constituency in Gasa has the lowest with 762 registered voters, according to election commission officials.

The draft Electoral Roll contains an up-to-date, inclusive and comprehensive list with details and photographs of all registered voters who can cast their votes in December.

ECB will send the draft Electoral Roll to all dzongkhags and gewogs for the eligible voters to verify and ensure their enrolment in the Electoral Roll. Eligible voters could verify, make objections and claims to the dzongkhag electoral office from September 1 to September 15 and submit to the ECB to incorporate changes, according to election commission officials.

“Eligible voters would have the opportunity to confirm that their names are included and details are correctly reflected in the electoral roll,” said chief election commissioner Dasho Kunzang Wangdi. “A voter, besides correcting his or her inaccurate details, could also object to a wrongful entry of somebody else in the Electoral Roll.”

The draft Electoral Roll was prepared, based on information and photographs obtained from the national civil registry. According to ECB, the Electoral Roll, at the time of election, will be prepared into Voters’ Lists for each polling station.

Source : Kuenselonline

Candidates Increased for a Seat in National Council

22 candidates from 14 dzongkhags have declared to contest for the seats in National Council

As Bhutan Gears up for Democracy in year 2008, more and more people are joining politics, The list of people declaring to run for the National Council elections is slowly increasing. As of yesterday, there were about 22 people who had made their interest public.

Sarpang dzongkhag had the maximum candidates so far with four candidates, Karma Donen Wangdi, Jamyang Sherub Wangdi, B.B Chettri and Major (retd) D.B. Rana.

Pema Tenzin and Choki Drakpa are contesting from Mongar, Sonam Phuntsho and Jigmi Palden are contesting from Bumthang, Rinzin Rinzin and Chhewang Rinzin from Lhuentse, Namgay R Dorji and Sangay Phurba are contesting from Punakha and Ugyen Tshering and Phub Dorji are contesting from Paro.

Haa, Chukha, Dagana, Chukha, Zhemgang, Pemagatshel, Trashigang, Samtse, and Wangduephodrang have only one candidate each. The candidates are Tshering Dorji from Haa, Pema Lhamo from Zhemgang, Sonam Dorji Wangchuk from Chukha, Kezang Dema from Dagana, Jigme Rinzin from Pemagatshel, Sonam Kinga from Trashigang, Dr. Mani Kumar Rai from Samtse and Sonam Phuntsho from Wangdue.

Six dzongkhags -Thimphu, Gasa, Trongsa, Tsirang, Samdrup Jongkhar and Trashiyangtse – do not have a single candidate yet.

Candidates contesting for a seat in the National Council will first have to be nominated from the gewogs, which means that there should ideally be at least 205 candidates. The candidates nominated from the gewogs will then go on to contest the dzongkhag level elections. The winner becomes the National Council member from the dzongkhag.

Candidates who declared their interest through the media said that they declared to let the people in their dzongkhag know who their candidates were. “Voters should be given time to know about the person who is going to represent them in the National Council,” said a candidate. “People should be given a choice to elect the best person.” Observers have pointed out that each dzongkhag should at least have three candidates so that the best represent the people.

Meanwhile, the Election Commission of Bhutan is in the midst of conducting seminars in the chiwogs and gewogs to educate voters on the National Council election procedures. More candidates are expected to declare after the seminars, which concludes on August 20.

The polling day for the National Council elections is set for December.
Source: Kuenselonline