The Election Commission of Bhutan is honoured to inform the People of Bhutan that the Second Local Government Elections have been successfully completed with the Polls of the Second Phase being conducted yesterday, the 27th of September 2016.
Total Posts and Candidates
The elective offices in the Local Governments that elections were called under this Phase included a total of 1,477 posts including the post of Gup, Mangmi and Gewog Tshogpa in the 205 gewogs; Thrompon and Thromde Tshogpas for Samdrup Jongkhar Thromde and Thromde Ngotshabs in 16 Dzongkhag Thromdes.
A total of 3,391 Candidates contested the elections for the various posts. It may be noted that in addition to the rejection of the nomination of 32 Candidates, another 7 candidatures were affected with death of 2 contesting Candidates, 2 Cancellations and 3 disqualified.
No candidates filed nomination to contest for the post of Tshogpa in 41 Chiwogs of 17 Dzongkhags and for the post of Thromde Ngotshab in Gasa, Monggar and Pema Gatshel Dzongkhags.
Voter Turnout
The Voter Turnout at the polls yesterday are as follows:
- Total Registered Voters = 402,149 ( 205,247 females and 196,902 males)
- Total Number of Votes Cast = 224,484
- EVM = 189,433
- Postal Ballot = 35,051
- Voter Turnout (%) = 55.8%
The full details of the Final Results are presented in the Notification No. ECB/CEC/NOTIF-01/2016/612 dated 28th of September 2016 which is also available on the ECB’s website: https://www.ecb.bt/lg2016
Elected Candidates
A total of 1,423 candidates were elected as Local Government leaders including:
- 205 Gups out of which 2 (1%) are females and 203 (99%) males
- 203 Mangmis out of which 23 (11%) are females and 180 (89%) males
- 999 Gewog Tshogpas out of which 130 (13%) are females and 869 (87%) males
- 1 Thrompon, a male
- 5 Thromde Tshogpas out of which 2 (40%) are females and 3 (60%) males
- 10 Thromde Ngotshabs out of which 2 (20%) are females and 8 (80%) males
Profile of Elected Candidates
Besides being functionally literate as required under the Laws, the academic qualifications of the elected Candidates are found to be as follows:
- Degree – 40 out of 150
- High School – 494 out of 981
- Primary School – 324 out of 697
- NFE – 137 out of 332
Out of the total 1,423 elected candidates, 432 of them had previously held elective posts in the Local Governments.
Negative Voting and Tied Results
Out of 330 uncontested elections, a total of 12 (1 female and 11 male) Candidates received more “No” votes than “Yes” votes.
There were a total of 13 cases of tied results where re-Poll will have be held.
Disputes
A total of 16 disputes were decided by the Dzongkhag Election Dispute Settlement Bodies (DEDSBs), Central Election Dispute Settlement Body (CEDSB) and the Commission. Five complaints related to the Zomdu; seven on corruption charges; four on violation of the Code of Conduct and four on eligibility of Candidates.
We would like to report that the elections of the Local Government Elections for the Gewog Tshogdes of 205 Gewogs, Samdrup Jongkhar Thromde Tshogde and the 13 Thromde Ngotshabs of 13 Dzongkhags went smoothly with active participation of the electorates.
Polls of the Second Phase of Second Local Government Elections 2016 have been successfully conducted in all the polling stations in the twenty Dzongkhags with no major problems encountered in the Polling Stations except in ten stations where there were some problems with the EVM. These were due to human error and mix-up of old and new sets of the EVMs leading to Linking Error but which could be addressed adequately.
However, in one case in Dangreybu_Ngagang Chiwog, Dophuchen Gewog of Samtse Dzongkhag where the EVM for Mangmi had shut down, the 57 voters who had already cast their votes had to be recalled and re-cast their votes on the fresh EVM with the polling hours being extended upto 8pm. The other case is in Atola Chiwog, Thangrong Gewog of Monggar Dzongkhag where the EVM for the Tshogpa could not be read and a re-poll shall be conducted in the Chiwog along with the re-poll in the Vacant Demkhongs. The Candidate contesting elections for the post of Thromde Ngotshab in Paro had to be disqualified and the election results thereof nullified as it came to light that he had a record of criminal conviction.
A total of 71 (41 Chiwogs, 4 Thromde Ngotshabs, 13 Tied Results, 12 Negative Voting and 1 Re-Poll) Local Government Demkhongs are vacant and elections would be called to these in due course of time.
The Election Commission of Bhutan attributes the success of the Second Local Government Elections in the 20 Dzongkhags to the voters who turned out to vote, the entire team of dedicated election officials, security personnel and polling officers who worked tirelessly with commitment and enthusiasm. Further, we would like to acknowledge the support rendered by various Ministries, Departments, Dzongkhag/ Dungkhag/ Thromde Administrations and the Media Agencies to the Election Commission in the discharge of its functions. All of us came together in our shared
commitment towards a vibrant Democracy and more so voting as an appropriate tribute in this special year of the 3 Tendrels.
Above all, the Election Commission of Bhutan offers its deepest gratitude to His Majesty The King, His Majesty the Druk Gyal Zhipa and His Holiness the Je Khenpo and the Monastic Community for their blessings for the successful conduct of the Second Local Government Elections.
Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan
