With the last dhamngoi zomdu (nomination meeting) scheduled in Naro gewog today, Thimphu dzongkhag will wrap up its zomdu with five candidates vying for a seat in National Council (NC).
There is no NC aspiring candidate from Naro gewog so far.
Of the 10 aspiring candidates from eight gewogs and Thimphu thromde, five could not get through the gewog nomination process. The dzongkhag do not have any female NC candidate.
Securing 530 of the 792 votes, Sangay Tshering, 29, a former employee of Bhutan Duty Free Limited yesterday beat Tandin Tshering, 27, a graduate in Maedwang gewog. Maedwang gewog has the highest eligible registered voters with 2,711 as per the draft E-roll.
Thimphu’s first zomdu, which began from Chang gewog on March 5, saw 201 voters selecting the incumbent NC representative Nima Gyaltshen. He secured 21 no votes. There are 809 registered voters in the gewog.
With 213 yes and 21 no votes, Ge-nyen gewog selected a former teacher, Leki Tshering. There are about 704 registered voters in the gewog.
In Thimphu thromde, a 33-year old former private lawyer, Tshokey Dorji was selected among the aspirants with 811 of the 1,946 total votes. Thromde has 7,667 registered voters.
In Kawang gewog, winning 374 of the 535 votes, former Thimphu dzongdag Tshewang Rinzin was nominated as the gewog candidate. There are about 1,224 registered voters.
There are no NC candidates from Darkala gewog where 25 voters who turned up for the zomdu signed a no nominee form. In Lingzhi, 50 voters turned up for the zomdu but it did not have a candidate. There was also no candidate from Soe gewog.
No candidate was disqualified neither has any withdrew their intent to contest. The dzongkhag dispute settlement committee has not received any complaint from the candidates.
The candidates will now have to file in their nomination documents by March 19. Only one candidate has filed his documents to the returning officer so far. The common forum is yet to be scheduled and Thimphu will have its public debate on April 10.
Yangchen C Rinzin