THE PARTY’S OVER – One year after being elected, DPT membership dwindles

15 April, 2009 - Things did not look too good at the recent Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) party meeting in Thimphu.

Its membership has dipped from about 12,000 last year to 2,000 today, a number which included about 600-700 new members. Many old members did not renew their membership.

A party coordinator said that the reason for declining membership was because MPs were not visiting their constituencies on a regular basis. A few had not gone to their constituencies at all. “People want to meet MPs to tell them about their problems; they don’t want to meet us coordinators,” he said, adding that most supporters in the villages were of the notion that the party elected by them was not benefiting them.

Finances were also wearing thin in their dzongkhag offices.

The meeting decided that MPs would contribute 10 percent of their salary directly to their dzongkhag coordinator’s offices. Earlier the DPT headquarter office in the capital dealt with it, but coordinators said they never got the money, which was to be used mostly to pay office rent, telephone and electricity bills, and also their salary.

The party secretary, Thinley Jamtsho, said that, from now on, MPs and their district coordinators would play an active role in running the party’s dzongkhag offices and also in raising capital. Election commission rules state that MPs must maintain an office in their districts.

DPT plans to reduce its membership fees from Nu 300 to Nu 200, and member’s renewal fee from Nu 200 to Nu 150. ”A committee will be formed to take the final decision,” said Thinley Jamtsho.

District coordinators at the meeting said that there was a dire need for a state fund to sustain the party. “Most tshogpas don’t have any budget, without which nothing can be done to sustain the party,” said Chang Ugyen, a DPT coordinator. “The membership fees, contribution from businessmen and 10 percent from MPs were the main source of party funds and now it’s difficult to meet expenses, as there’s hardly any contribution from businessmen too.” Most coordinators requested the executive members to request for state funding at the next national assembly.

“The government is powerless to get state funding for the party,” the party president, Lyonchhoen Jigmi Y Thinley, told the meeting.

Asked about the achievements of the DPT government so far, most coordinators said they were happy with the way the coronation and centenary celebrations went well. However, on the service to the people front, they said that the government had done nothing much or well and hoped that it will soon act on its election promises to the people.

When discussions got heated up between MPs and coordinators, the DPT party told the press to leave the hall.