Aides In Waiting: Local government elections are now long overdue

Annual Gup’s Conference 24 March, 2010 - The long delayed local government elections saw renewed debate yesterday at the annual gup’s conference in Thimphu, when gewog heads asked the chief election commissioner (CEC) if there would ever be an election of local leaders.

Expressing urgency, gups questioned when the election process would begin and how it would be conducted and said that they wanted an answer before they returned to their gewogs.

Bhutan will be electing about 1,200 gups, tshogpas, mangmis, thrompons and thromde tshogpas during the local government (LG) elections.

The Goenshari gewog mangap, who had been the officiating gup for almost two years, said that he had to take over all the responsibilities after the gup expired. “We were informed that there would be local elections soon, but it has been almost two years and, from what we hear, the elections could be delayed further,” he said, adding that few other gewogs were facing the same situation. “We were given additional work with no additional remuneration.” A gup earns a monthly salary of about Nu 12,600 while a mangap earns Nu 9,000.

He also said that the election process should be expedited to solve various complications in the gewogs.

Almost two years after the LG elections were first planned, CEC Dasho Kunzang Wangdi told gups that they were still “uncertain”.

“We thought that by mid 2008, we could start the local government elections and put in place both the central and local government by the end of 2008,” he said. “As you must be aware, the LG bill is not an Act yet and it isn’t possible for the LG elections to be conducted without an Act.”

Election officials had earlier said that the LG Act and the final list of thromdes and boundaries were fundamentals in preparing for local elections.

Zhemgang’s Trong gup Dorji Wangchuk said that, in many gewogs, the one-year term of the tshogpas was also completed. “We can’t hold elections and, therefore, many villages have officiating tshogpas for those who’ve resigned,” he said. He also said that many gups and other local leaders wanted to know how and when the elections would be held, mainly to contest in the elections again.

While many people expect parliament to decide the thromde demarcation during the May session, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi did not confirm that the LG election would take place soon.

“Unless the LG Act is in our hands, we won’t be able to determine the thromde, delimitation or voters’ list. I can’t say anything at this stage,” he said.

Dasho Kunzang Wangdi also said that, more than the election of gewog leaders, he was concerned if there would be voters and candidates for the thromde elections. “We’re concerned if there’ll be enough voters or candidates contesting, because most people residing in the throms are registered in the villages,” he said.

A thromde list was submitted to parliament during the winter session in 2009 but the election commission has not received any response.

“We were hoping for some developments in the LG elections,” said Kebisa gup in Dagana, Karma Tshering. “One of the reasons why we’re here is to understand and discuss the local government elections.”