2008 Bhutanese National Assembly election

none March 2018 Bhutan parliamentary 2013 Bhutanese National Assembly election 2013 All 47 seats in the National Assembly 24 24 March 2008 Jigme_Thinley_(cropped).jpg Jigme Thinley Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party 45 169,490 67.04% Sangay Ngedup 2005.jpg Sangay Ngedup People's Democratic Party (Bhutan) 2 83,322 32.96% 2008 Bhutanese National Assembly election - Round results by constituency (vote share).svg Results by constituency Prime Minister Prime Minister-designate Kinzang Dorji Independent Jigme Thinley Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party National Assembly elections were held in Bhutan for the first time on 24 March 2008.Bhaumik Subir 17 January 2008 Main Bhutan election date is set https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7193818.stm live https://web.archive.org/web/20081227045917/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7193818.stm 27 December 2008 20 November 2008 BBC News Two parties were registered by the Election Commission of Bhutan to contest the elections; Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT), led by Jigme Y. Thinley, which was formed by the merger of the Bhutan People's United Party and All People's Party,25 July 2007 Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, the new party in town http://www.bhutan.gov.bt/government/newsDetail.php?id=320 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080521073646/http://www.bhutan.gov.bt/government/newsDetail.php?id=320 21 May 2008 20 November 2008 Bhutan Portal and the People's Democratic Party (PDP). A third political party, the Bhutan National Party (BNP),6 May 2007 Bhutan gets third political party http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200705061012.htm dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080111080344/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/003200705061012.htm 11 January 2008 20 November 2008 The Hindu had its application for the registration refused. Electoral system Parties which wished to compete in the election had to attain official status and satisfy a range of conditions, for example supporting the 'national interest'.Turner Mark Tshering Jit 2014 Second elections and democratic consolidation: The experience of Bhutan Asian Journal of Political Science Taylor & Francis 22 3 315–334 10.1080/02185377.2014.957708 Candidates for any party had to be a citizen, registered to vote in the constituency, hold at least a bachelor's degree, be between the ages of 25 and 65, not working for the civil service and not be in receipt of foreign assistance. The elections for the 47 seats of the National Assembly were planned to be held in two rounds: In the first 'primary' round, voters chose for a party. The two parties with the largest share of the national vote would then have been able to field candidates in the 47 constituencies3 August 2007 Caretaker prime minister appointed in Bhutan http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=0fc17dd6-a4cd-4ccc-9dd4-e0fc571d7c02&&Headline=Caretaker+PM+appointed+in+Bhutan dead https://web.archive.org/web/20070930030920/http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=0fc17dd6-a4cd-4ccc-9dd4-e0fc571d7c02&&Headline=Caretaker%20PM%20appointed%20in%20Bhutan 30 September 2007 20 November 2008 Hindustan Times Indo-Asian News Service dmy-all in the 'general election' round. However, as only two parties had successfully registered for the election, the election was held in one general election round. Background Paro College mock election The Electoral Commission first experimented with elections with a mock election at the Paro College of Education. This involved the college's faculty and students as candidates and voters. The first round was conducted on 8 September 2006, and the second round was conducted on 9 September. 620 voters in 2 polling stations voted for one of six 'dummy' political parties using electronic voting machines. In the first round, turnout was 96%, and it was 87% in the second round. The two parties which proceeded to the second round were the Bhutan Forward Party, and the Druk Unity Party. Primary round General round Bhutan Forward 245 295 Druk Unity 93 247 National Freedom 76 Druk Socialist Party 75 Bhutan Democratic Party 62 Druk Yarphel Party 41 620 620 ECB National mock election On 21 April 2007 a mock election was held to prepare the population of Bhutan for the imminent change to democracy. These elections were held in all 47 National Assembly constituencies and at 869 polling stations with around 1,000 voters at each one of them.20 April 2007 Bhutan set for mock elections on April 21 http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=28cf6a1b-2ac2-429d-a56e-fbc4564dacf6& https://web.archive.org/web/20070930015119/http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=28cf6a1b-2ac2-429d-a56e-fbc4564dacf6& 2007-09-30 Hindustan Times The parties "contesting" the election were the Druk Blue Party, the Druk Green Party, the Druk Red Party and the Druk Yellow Party (with Druk being Dzongkha for "thunder dragon", a national symbol of Bhutan). Each "party" represented certain values as their "party manifesto": yellow for traditional values, red for industrial development, blue for fairness and accountability, and green for the environment. The two parties winning the most votes were to proceed to a run-off election scheduled for 28 May.April 21, 2007 Bhutan holds fake national poll http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6578421.stm BBC News en-GB Election observers were present from the United Nations and from India.21 April 2007 Bhutan's election dummy run http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/bhutans-election-dummy-run/story-e6frg6so-1111113381211 https://web.archive.org/web/20110811184336/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/bhutans-election-dummy-run/story-e6frg6so-1111113381211 2011-08-11 TheAustralian en-au The results of the first round saw the Druk Yellow Party receive a plurality of the vote.Denyer Simon 22 April 2007 Bhutan votes for tradition and monarchy in mock poll https://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/22/worldupdates/2007-04-22T114127Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-295140-1&sec=Worldupdates https://web.archive.org/web/20071013112245/https://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/4/22/worldupdates/2007-04-22T114127Z_01_NOOTR_RTRJONC_0_-295140-1&sec=Worldupdates 2007-10-13 www.thestar.com.myAhme Abu Nasar Saied 2018 Bhutan's experiments with Democracy http://dlkkhsou.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/451/1/Occasional%20paper%203_2018.pdf KKHSOUElectoral Commission of Bhutan 2015 Statistical Information on Elections in Bhutan 2006-2015 https://www.ecb.bt/rnp/election.pdf The Druk Yellow and Druk Red parties proceeded to the second, or general, round. These two parties put up randomly chosen high school students as candidates in the 47 constituencies in the second round on 28 May 2007. The Druk Yellow Party swept the vote and won 46 of the 47 constituencies, with the Druk Red Party winning the Bartsham-Shongphu constituency.RAOnline Bhutan: Politics - Elections 2008 - Mock general election in May 2007 https://www.raonline.ch/pages/bt/pol/bt_election0804b.html 2023-11-21 www.raonline.ch Turnout in the second round was 66%.May 30, 2007 Bhutan mock poll votes for tradition https://www.thestar.com/news/bhutan-mock-poll-votes-for-tradition/article_4787524e-eed0-5af5-a1fe-bd156a24633d.html Toronto Star en 246,146 people had registered to vote, though it is considered likely that a total of 400,000 would have been eligible to register as voters.28 May 2007 Encouraging turnout in Bhutan's historic mock polls http://www.indiaenews.com/asia/20070528/53749.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20071007154725/http://www.indiaenews.com/asia/20070528/53749.htm 2007-10-07 www.indiaenews.com Primary round General round Druk Yellow Party 56531 161986 46 yellow Druk Red Party 25542 54117 1 red Druk Blue Party 25508 blue 0 Druk Green Party 18757 green 0 246146 246146 ECB 2007–2008 National Council election 2007–2008 Bhutanese National Council election Between December 2007 and January 2008, the first official elections were held for the National Council. This was found by international observers to have 'met international standards' for elections. Some of the constituencies had no candidates, leading to a delay in the date. Schedule The election procedure began with the submission of the letters of intent, lists of candidates, copies of election manifestos and audited financial statements by the two political parties contesting the elections to the election commission followed by the release of the party manifestos by them on 22 January 2008.19 January 2008 March is on to Assembly Elections http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9739 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110610230217/http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=9739 10 June 2011 11 December 2008 Kuensel Newspaper From 31 January to 7 February 2008 both political parties submitted the nomination papers for their candidates for the 47 constituencies. The candidates, whose nominations were accepted, started campaigning in their constituencies from 7 February. The election campaign ended at 9:00 on 22 March. The last date for receiving the postal ballots was 18 February. The elections were held on 24 March from 09:00 to 17:00 followed by the counting of ballots on the same day. The results were declared on 25 March. All eligible voters were allowed to register with the election commission until 20 February 2008 for the inclusion of their names in the voters list which was updated to include those eligible voters who were eighteen years old on or before 1 January 2008. The final electoral roll was published on 5 March 2008. Campaign Only two parties competed in the election, the DPT and PDP, and a close race between the two was expected. There were few differences between the platforms of the two partiesSinpeng Aim 2007 Democracy from above: regime transition in the Kingdom of Bhutan https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/273b8d7d-0cbd-4fc6-b85c-99039e609cfd/download Journal of Bhutan Studies 17 41 Cambridge University repository and both pledged to follow the king's guidelines of "pursuing Gross National Happiness". Both party leaders had also previously served in governments.Sengupta Somni 5 March 2008 Heavy Turnout in First Bhutan Election https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/world/asia/25bhutan.html live https://web.archive.org/web/20130301080749/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/25/world/asia/25bhutan.html 1 March 2013 20 November 2008 The New York Times Results Voter turnout reached nearly 80% by the time the polls closed, and the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party reportedly won 44 seats, with the People's Democratic Party winning only three seats (Phuentsholing in Chhukha, Goenkhatoe-Laya in Gasa and Sombeykha in Haa). The PDP's leader, Sangay Ngedup, who was also the ruling king's uncle, lost his own constituency by 380 votes. However, due to a mistake in tallying the votes in Phuntsholing,27 March 2008 Results of the Phuentsholing Constituency of National Assembly Election 2008 under Chukha Dzongkhag http://www.election-bhutan.org.bt/Docs/phuntsholing.pdf dead https://web.archive.org/web/20081028211916/http://www.election-bhutan.org.bt/Docs/phuntsholing.pdf 28 October 2008 21 November 2008 PDF the DPT had actually won 45 seats and the PDP only 2.Majumdar Bappa 27 March 2008 CORRECTED: Bhutan corrects poll results, opposition shrinks https://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSDEL16203420080327 21 November 2008 Reuters The DPT's large-scale victory may have been due to it being perceived as the more royalist of the two parties.25 March 2008 Erdrutschsieg der Royalisten in Bhutan (International, NZZ Online) http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/international/erdrutschsieg_der_royalisten_bei_den_wahlen_in_bhutan_1.694585.html https://web.archive.org/web/20080622003613/http://www.nzz.ch/nachrichten/international/erdrutschsieg_der_royalisten_bei_den_wahlen_in_bhutan_1.694585.html 2008-06-22 www.nzz.ch de File:Assemblee nationale bhoutan 2008.svg Druk Phuensum Tshogpa 169490 45 People's Democratic Party 83322 2 318465 EU Observation Mission Aftermath The two PDP members who were elected refused to take up their seats and resigned their mandates, claiming that the civil servants informally campaigned for the DPT and influenced the result.Denyer Simon 28 March 2008 Bhutan loses opposition as MPs cry foul over poll http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-32738320080328 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20080411050333/http://in.reuters.com/article/topNews/idINIndia-32738320080328 11 April 2008 11 December 2008 Reuters India29 March 2008 PDP asks ECB to investigate "very strange developments" before elections http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10108 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110610230307/http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10108 10 June 2011 11 December 2008 Kuensel Newspaper The DPT officially approved its leader as candidate for Prime Minister on 5 April 2008.5 April 2008 DPT endorses Jigmi Y Thinley as Prime Minister http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10149 dead https://web.archive.org/web/20110610230349/http://www.kuenselonline.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=10149 10 June 2011 11 December 2008 Kuensel Newspaper He took office on 9 April.11 April 2008 Thinley takes over as Premier http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/11/stories/2008041154161800.htm https://web.archive.org/web/20121102040043/http://www.hindu.com/2008/04/11/stories/2008041154161800.htm 2012-11-02 The Hindu Although analysts were worried that the small representation of the opposition might obstruct the functioning of the newly founded democratic system, the next elections in 2013 were won by the PDP. References Category:National Assembly elections in Bhutan Bhutan General election Bhutan