While the entire country is still talking about and analysing the verdict of the Gyalpoizhing land allotment case, with opinions going from one extreme to the other, the political parties have other things on their mind.
And that is to get confirmed candidates from all 47 constituencies, a prerequisite to be able to contest the elections.
With the clock ticking, parties are basically trying to reach out for the same group of people, and even announcing on [... Read More]
Even as the prominent political figures convicted in the Gyalpoizhing land allotment case are yet to make up their minds on whether to appeal the district court verdict, the mood among the other committee members is of lost hope and disillusion.
Most or all of them are civil servants, who have served many years in the civil service, and the verdict has basically brought up the question of whether they can continue in service, or whether [... Read More]
The election commission has announced the date for the national council election as April 23, which leaves about six weeks for aspirants and re-contestants to get their act together.
But what the commission did not say is whether the present set of councillors would be allowed to re-contest, while still in office.
Instead, it said those in office, who wish to re-contest, must first resign. This brings the council back to square one, for now, as far [... Read More]
The verdict on Gyalpoizhing is out, but the case is far from over.
Not only because the court is yet to make its statement on the plots that were illegally purchased as deemed by the anti corruption commission, but also because those handed down sentences could appeal to a higher court.
Social media sites are overflowing with views and opinions on the verdicts handed down to members of the plot allotment committee.
Quite a few feel the verdict [... Read More]
Everyone expected some important announcements to be made at the closing session of parliament on Thursday, the last one for the first democratically elected parliament.
There was word that His Majesty, who, together with the council and assembly, constitute parliament, would not only announce the election dates for the council, as stated in the election act, but also clarify whether the present councillors can re contest without having to resign from office.
Nothing of that sort happened, [... Read More]
In a recent gathering, an aspiring party candidate was jestingly heard saying he might remain an aspiring candidate in the coming election.
The comment was made in the context of fulfilling obligations to the civil service commission, by continuing to serve in the civil service for long-term training and studies availed.
As was the case in the 2008 election, candidates for political parties, as well as the national council, are likely to be drawn from the bureaucracy.
In his state of the nation report to parliament on Monday, the prime minister gave his government a very positive report card, a pat on the back, on its performance over the past five years.
That was only to be expected. On the eve of elections, most governments are likely to tow that line, even if they have not done as well on the ground.
Together with the state of the nation report, packed with statistics and [... Read More]
It was reduced to a moment, this first five years of the country’s transition to a democracy.
The prime minister yesterday summed it up in a slightly more than three-hour report presentation of the country’s first democratically elected government’s performance in the last five years.
Many who watched the presentation thought it was a marathon session of a lone man speaking for more than three hours.
But what they missed was looking back across the terrains into the [... Read More]
The judiciary has started attracting quite a bit of flak over its written order to a local producer that he show his production, which is about the “Culture of law in Bhutan”, to justices of the High Court and Supreme Court before it is screened to the public.
Such a reaction was only to be expected because the National Film and Television Review Board, the official censor board, has already cleared the production for public screenings. [... Read More]
Having a “common platform” where all political parties and national council aspirants can meet and address voters one after the other is perhaps one of the best ideas to have emerged in the run up to the 2013 elections.
This idea, finalised this week, grows out of the experience of 2008 general election where rural voters, who make up the bulk of the electorate, ended up being burdened by having to attend numerous meetings arranged by [... Read More]