Without delimitation, elections do not have a constitutional leg to stand onLocal Government Elections1 April, 2010 - With His Majesty the King granting last week his assent to the local government bill, there is growing expectation that the long overdue local government elections will be held at the earliest.
We’ve asked the chief election commissioner, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, to see if elections could be held before the monsoon starts,” said the speaker, Tshogpon Jigme Tshultim. The LG bill was endorsed by Parliament in December 2009.
We’ve asked the chief election commissioner, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, to see if elections could be held before the monsoon starts,” said the speaker, Tshogpon Jigme Tshultim. The LG bill was endorsed by Parliament in December 2009.
The speaker said that not conducting the elections was violating the provision of the constitution, which states that there should be a local government.
“Without an elected government at the local level, present local leaders could be complacent with government plans because they aren’t sure of their position,” said the Tshogpon. “The problem in the past was with the release of budget, now the problem is with implementation,” he said, adding that Nu 830 mn was refunded from the dzongkhags for not implementing activities in the first year of the 10th Plan.
But the delimitation of dzongkhag, gewog and yenlag thromdes are yet to be completed which, according to election commission officials, is necessary to hold elections.
“Should the local elections have to wait for the complete demarcation, it’ll take another 15 to 20 years,” said the speaker. “Even the parliamentary election was conducted based of election bills.”
The Haa MP, Ugyen Tenzin, said that there are already demarcated throms like Thimphu, Phuentsholing and Gelephu where elections can be held. Ugyen Tenzin added that, if all the 20 dzongkhags were to have thromdes tshogdes, there would be problem because it’s not clear which gewog or village falls under the thromdes. This will take time.”
In the last session of parliament, the works and human settlement ministry had proposed thromdes be categorised into Class A, Class B and yenlag thromdes, based on the criteria set by the local government act, 2009. However, no decision was taken, as most of the dzongkhags couldn’t even qualify for a yenlag thromdes.
Speaking to Kuensel, CEC Dasho Kunzang Wangdi said the ECB would help the government expedite the election process. But, even if the government decides to go ahead with the elections without the delimitation of thromdes, a LG election in the near future looks impossible.
The CEC said that, even with a final plan, there is a lot of work before the election can be conducted. “Even if the local government constituencies are finalized, we have to prepare election material, train returning, presiding and polling and security officers and prepare another round of voter photo identity card (VPIC) for the local elections, which would have more polling stations. Candidate nomination would also be a long process and chiwogs are not yet defined.
“We couldn’t complete delimitation in 2008 and will have to prepare VPIC for all eligible voters,” said the CEC.
Will the local election go ahead without the delimitation of thromdes? “It will be incorrect on our part to not go by the law,” Dasho Kunzang Wangdi said.
As of now, the election commission is waiting for a list of dzongkhag thromdes, yenlag thromdes and gewogs with clear boundaries demarcated.
By Ugyen Penjore
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