Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) president Pema Gyamtsho (PhD) has said that his party will stick to its principles while fighting for the truth in the upcoming National Assembly elections.

“Our only strategy will be to explain to the people our own approach and pledges and justify our own ideology. We will not talk about other parties,” said the DPT president speaking at the Opposition’s last press conference on July 31.

On if the new parties posed threat to DPT in the primary round, Pema Gyamtsho said there were attempts being made to defame and displace DPT. “But I think they are not going to succeed,” he said.

The DPT president said that the people knew what was going on and that he had full faith and confidence in their wisdom. He added, “We will fight for the truth without resorting to coercion and threats and promises that cannot be fulfilled.”

Responding to what he felt about the new parties speaking about fixing the country’s problems overnight, such as corruption, the DPT president said political parties couldn’t make pledges before the commencement of an election period.

“It looks like there are parties going around promising the sun and moon,” Pema Gyamtsho said. The electorate, he said, know what is viable and doable.

“Everyone should know that governance is not a joke. Governance is not about experimenting. Neither is it a research laboratory where you can experiment whether something works or not,” he said.

Claiming that the DPT government fulfilled all its pledges, Pema Gyamtsho said that his party would not make promises that it cannot fulfill. “Our pledges will be long-term.”

The party’s vice president Ugyen Wangdi said DPT’s strategy would be to come up with long term pledges that will serve the best interest of the people and country.

“We will not come with short term pledges just to win the votes since our visions are always long-term. We will stick to our principle of equity and justice,” he said, adding that the party also lacks adequate resources.

Former health minister Zanglay Dukpa said that it was sad to hear some of the parties promising overnight changes. He said that they were undermining the wisdom of the people.

However, Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) general secretary Tenzin Lekphel said that the party was not campaigning yet and that it did not make promises or pledges. “We are only saying there is a gap with respect to health services. Dr Lotay being our president has observed and seen this problem during his 20 years service,” he said, adding that it was time to narrow the gap.

He said that DNT would leave it to the people to judge whether or not DNT had the experience. The party, he said, wanted to correct the loopholes it observed in the past two governments and give some hope of peace and harmony to the people to improve their lives.

Tenzin Lekphel said DNT is coming with new hope for the people and wanted to correct and clean up bad examples set by the past governments. “Let us leave this choice to the people of Bhutan and let them judge,” he said.

Bhutan Kuen-Nyam Party (BKP) spokesperson Sonam Tobgay said, “What other political parties say is their business. It is for the people to decide who deserves next to govern the country.”

BKP, he said, was fully prepared and will provide a worthy choice to further the cause of democracy.

People’s Democratic Party’s (PDP) general secretary Sonam Jatso said the party’s strategy would be to focus on its strength, such as the candidates. He said that his party is also building up to the election with a dream team of candidates.

He said the party has many factors which when combined puts PDP is a comfortable place. “We have an unmatched leader in the party president and works and human settlement minister as a role model for women,” Sonam Jatso said.

MB Subba