Bhutan's EC completes polls process,hands over MP list to King

Bhutan's election authorities today successfully completed the process to elect a new Parliament after the country's second national polls saw the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) storm to power.

Bhutan Election Commission (BEC) formally submitted the list of 47 winners of the country's second national elections to King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, culminating the first stage of the democratic process in the Himalayan nation in which Tshering Tobgay-led PDP secured a two-thirds majority.

Yesterday, the PDP won the national elections with a massive mandate and captured 32 seats. The country's new opposition party Druk Phuensum Tshogpa will have 15 members in the House.

The peaceful elections were marked by a heavy voter turnout of 80 per cent.    This is the second national polls in Bhutan after the country became a democracy in 2008 before which it was a monarchy.

Chief Election Commissioner Kunzang Wangdi said the results for yesterday's nationals election was formally declared today and the list was ceremonially given to the King.

"We will issue certificates to the 47 winning candidates on July 19," he told PTI.
However, formation of a new government will take some time as there is a "petition period" of 10 days beginning today.

During the period, any aggrieved candidate or party may lodge a complaint before the BEC over the election results and the poll panel will analyse the complaint and give its ruling.

"So, new government will assume charge only when the petition period will be over," BEC chief election officer Phub Dorji told PTI.

47-year-old PDP chief Tobgay is expected to assume charge as Prime Minister within a fortnight.
Bhutan turned into a democracy from a monarchy in 2008 when DPT party, headed by Jigmi Y Thinley, captured power for the first time with 45 law makers. The PDP then got only two seats.

Bhutan has a tri-cameral Parliament of the King, National Council and National Assembly. National
Council is upper house and has 25 members of whom five are appointed by the King while 20 others are elected from 20 districts.
National Assembly or lower house consists of 47 members elected from 47 constituencies.

The country's first opposition PDP, which had won just two seats in the last election, was often referred to as the world's smallest opposition party and was often unable to stop passing of policies
it did not agree with.

Three women candidates also won this time of whom PDP's Dorji Choden, 53, is poised to become the first woman minister in the country's history.

The presence of the former prime minister Thinley, including six former ministers, in the opposition means a significant group of experienced members are retained in the Parliament.

India has provided logistical support, including gifting nearly 4,130 Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) to Bhutan and Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath witnessed the democratic process in the Himalayan nation as an observer.