Skip to main content

Bhutan's Second Thromde Election and its e-Waste

Photo Courtesy: Kuensel
As it had announced earlier, the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) successfully conducted the Second Thromde elections in Thimphu, Phuentsholing and Gelephu on January 25, 2016. Two Thromdes of Gelephu and Phuentsholing elected new thrompons while Thimphu managed to retain their first. 

Unlike in the past not many candidates contested this election. As a result voting had to be carried out by asking people to press either "Yes" or "No" on Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). Moreover, voter turnout trend is unsatisfactory.  

Many representatives were fruitfully elected this time. However, two lone candidates in Phuentsholing Thromde election were voted out. Tirtha Maya Mongar of Pekarzhing Demkhong secured 62 'yeses' and 64 'no' votes. Likewise, Rinchending constituency's Tshogpa candidate Tshering Wangdi had received support from only 19 voters while 36 were against him. I feel sorry for the two candidates. Such a pity that their voters fielded no candidates against them and yet voted them "No". Or did the voters accidentally press the wrong buttons on the EVMs? 

From Election Commission of Bhutan Notification
It is a sheer waste. I call it e-waste. It is a waste that results from elections that have gone wrong. It is a waste of human resources for it takes more than money to conduct these elections. It is a waste of people's time and energy. Business houses have to be closed to allow free and fair elections. It means losses to these establishments. 

According to the ECB "Elections in the vacant Demkhongs shall be undertaken in [the] due course of time." I am curious - can the two candidates recontest in the re-elections? What if they not only contest in the reelection but win the elections? It will be interesting to wait and watch!  

So, how do we avoid such e-wastes? This is because we are going to have many elections in future where we would be unable to elect the required representatives. If people do not support a candidate, it is only proper that they field in a candidate that they would support and vote in. Isn't it a crazy idea to go to the polling station and vote "No"? That's an exercise in vain and defeats the whole purpose of going there.

Comments

  1. I am not sure how this voting would justify its accuracy as we still use the traditional paper ballots. The problem is corruption and cheating still exists, so rigging the electronic results is easiest.
    Our candidates also had to use money to lure people just to turn up to cast their votes. The world is getting sick to the core these days. So much killings as well and many become homeless victims. Sad.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

So what do you think?

Popular posts from this blog

Utpal Academy - Bhutan's first All-girls High School

Academic Block Welcome to Bhutan’s first all-girls school. Isn’t that wonderful news to all our parents? Certainly, as a parent of a one-year old daughter I am excited about the coming of a school exclusively dedicated to the needs of girls. Our girls need special treatment, which we can for sure entrust the responsibility to Utal Academy, Paro. Dinning Hall I really like the name – Utpal – in Buddhist world, Utpal is another name for lotus flower, which is believed to grow from mud and yet blossoms into a beautiful and majestic flower. It stands for purity and many deities are depicted holding flower Utpal, more prominently Jestusn Dolma, the Goddess Tara. Symbolically, it also stands for the transformation of our girls. What an apt name for the school! Hostel Room The Principal’s message posted on the academy’s website promises providing our young women an “opportunity to participate fully in a wide range of extracurricular activities to develop skills and qualities that

System Thinking

System is a collection of interrelated elements that create one complete and unified whole. All components within it constantly interact with each other to achieve a specific purpose.  For example, a car is a highly sophisticated form of a system. Hundreds of different parts work together to make it move in the desired direction, and even if a small part is missing, the car will fail to run.  From the system, I learnt that system thinking is a perspective of things around us, which makes us see how everything is connected to other things. In the above example, it is not just the motor that creates the motion in the car but combined work of all the parts in the vehicle. For example, even if everything works, without an accelerator, the car will not move in the desired speed that we want it to run.    Therefore, system thinking forces us to think about the relationships between things and how they influence the overall system. It makes us see the bigger picture. For example, when we buy

Fighting RCSCE-phobia

Now that the orientation is over, graduates all over Bhutan would be hunting for information and scratching through all our history books. And in absence of readily available information, it is going to be so frustrating for many. There are are aspirants like Tashi.P Ganzin who are already seeking divine intervention- whether to appear or not to.  This is the biggest moment in a graduate’s life – it’s time to learn and relearn so many things about the home and the world. And they need good attention from their parents and relatives, guidance and advice from elders. I am sure all 1300 graduates who attended the NGOP may not appear RCSC Common examination, but we need to inspire and encourage those that brave the odds. Many of my friends are waiting to take the exam of their life – their future will either be made or broken when RCSC declares the results. And my full prayers and support are with them. They are terribly afraid of it to say the least. I heard while there are no prob