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Mock parliamentary polls begin in Bhutan
Apr 21, 2007 - 9:44:24 AM
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Bhutan in 2004 unveiled a 34-point constitution and the same was sent to some 530,000 citizens for their views. The constitution would be ratified after a referendum later this year.
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By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS,
[RxPG] Samdrup Jongkhar -, April 21 - The Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan Saturday created history with its citizens voting for the first time in a mock parliamentary polls, an exercise carried out as a dress rehearsal for the election scheduled for 2008.
'This is a historic vote with polling underway in all the 47 parliamentary constituencies,' Bhutan's chief election commissioner, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, told IANS by telephone from the capital Thimphu.
Voting began at 9 a.m. - and ends at 5 p.m. Counting of votes would begin soon after polling is over with results expected late Saturday.
The two-phased mock elections Saturday and May 28 was aimed at familiarizing voters and officials about election procedures ahead of the first general elections in 2008 when the kingdom shifts from monarchy to parliamentary democracy.
'The elections would give us a chance to evaluate our readiness for holding the big elections in 2008,' Wangdi said.
People dressed in colourful traditional khos and kiras lined up polling stations since morning with an air of festivity looming large despite many parts of Bhutan having an overcast weather condition.
Khos are full-sleeved long robes that reach below the knees and are worn with a belt by men. Women wear kiras, a full-length dress like a sarong tied with a belt at the waist and held up by a pair of broaches at the shoulder.
Saturday's mock polling exercise is a run for the planned transformation from 100-years of monarchy to democracy in the isolated Himalayan region of Bhutan.
'We are excited with democracy knocking at our country's door,' B. Wangdi, a grocer in Samdrup Jongkhar, said.
This frontier town of Samdrup Jongkhar is the largest urban centre in eastern Bhutan, bordering the northeastern Indian state of Assam.
Monks clad in maroon-robes and tonsured heads offered prayers at monasteries by lighting butter lamps as Bhutan marches towards democracy.
'This is a good sign for the country and we hope democracy ushers in all round prosperity,' Den Lama, a young Buddhist monk, said.
Members of the royal family and those directly associated with religious institutions are not allowed to vote.
The Oxford educated 26-year-old King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck is camping in his ancestral village of Tungkar in Lhuntse district of northeastern Bhutan, a remote area that takes two days drive from Thimphu.
'The king is there to encourage the people to vote and personally witness the first democratic process,' the Chief Election Commissioner said.
While many of the young Bhutanese are excited about the vote, some of the older people are still confused. 'We don't know if politics is good for Bhutan. We still have faith in the monarchy,' said 65-year-old P. Dendup, a retired government official.
An estimated 400,000 voters out of the total population of 600,000 in Bhutan are eligible to exercise their franchise in 869 polling centres to choose from one of four mock parties - the Blue, Red, Green or Yellow Thunder Dragon Party, named after the country's national symbol.
'The two parties which get the highest number of votes Saturday will go on to contest the final round,' Wangdi said of the process, intended to mirror the real polls next year.
Two teams of election officials from the United Nations and neighbouring India are monitoring the mock polls.
In the final round of polls May 28, people would vote for candidates of the two top parties that emerge victorious in the first round.
Former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck last December abdicated the throne in favour of his eldest son.
The transition began in 2001 when the former king handed over the powers of daily government to a council of ministers and empowered the National Assembly to force a royal abdication if three-quarters of its membership backed the motion.
Bhutan in 2004 unveiled a 34-point constitution and the same was sent to some 530,000 citizens for their views. The constitution would be ratified after a referendum later this year.
Once adopted, the constitution will replace a royal decree of 1953 giving the monarch absolute power.
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