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So, 25 independents, 20 are directly elected by the people they are not
aristocrats. And five appointed by His Majesty the King from distinguished
personnel in the country, total of 72 MPs.
Now if you look at the 25 seats of the National Council, 48 of them
contested. 48 of us contested in 2008. In 2013 it increased to 67. And this
year there was a huge number of 126 candidates.
Women in parliament, not too good, but we’re increasing. In 2008, there
were only 10. 2013 went down to five. This year 11 and this lady on the left.
She contested against 12 other men, defeated them, and became the youngest
MP today.
I would like to draw your attention to this lady who became the first
minister in 2013. She was a member of PDP in 2008. But PDP became the
only opposition with two seats. She lost in her constituency. So, she left her
party, PDP, and joined a new party formed in 2013 called DNT, the present
ruling party. DNT, however, lost in the primary round. So, she left DNT again
and rejoined her former party as the Vice President in 2013. She won and
became the first minister. This lady also became the president of her new party
in 2013, but her party could not get 10% of the votes in the primary round of
2013. And you know electoral law, if you don’t get 10%, you do not get the
state fund for elections in the next election. So, she thought she was not going
to do well this year. She left her party, joined another party and became its
president. This party, BKP, formed in 2013, could not make it through as I said,
had also a lady who is the Former Chief of Anti Corruption Commission. She
could not win her constituency in the primary round on 15th September, so she
decided to resign on 16th September. Although we had three lady presidents of
political parties. Today we have none.
Now, I would like to take you a quick laid back can see the historic
transition to Bhutan began in 2008. But it was not demanded or fought for by
the people. There was no political agitation. It was rather introduced by His
Majesty the Fourth King. He said, he could have a country not being a
constitutional monarchy, but he said we need to be serious. I am introducing
parliament to democracy, but also abdicating voluntarily. And then the transition
began with practice elections and actual elections I will talk about that a bit
later.
Ten years later, 2008 to 2018, democracy remains the only game in town. ²£ ´£²¢¡¸¡¡Á¥°£°ª²£l²h²£°À¨
People do not talk about going back to monarchy. There is no symptom of
democracy receding or not doing well. What is the magic? How has democracy
become successful in Bhutan in a short time? I think one is really in the nature
of transition. Bhutan’s transition to democracy in 2008 was very peaceful.
