Dechen Dolkar

Druk Thuendrel Tshogpa (DTT) encountered a challenging outcome, securing the lowest votes with 30,814, as per the provisional results announced yesterday.

As per the Public Election Fund Act, a party becomes eligible for state funding if it secures at least 10 percent of the valid votes cast in the primary round for the National Assembly elections. With DTT falling below this threshold, the party will need to self-fund its future campaigns if it plans to contest the next parliamentary elections.

DTT garnered only 9.83 percent of the total 313,162 votes cast and faced defeat in every constituency.

DTT’s president, Kinga Tshering, experienced defeat in his own North Thimphu constituency, securing 669 votes compared to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), which received 1602 votes.

Despite securing the third-highest number of votes, the overall outcome for DTT was below expectations.

Expressing disappointment with the election results, Kinga Tshering said, “For the competent, professional, and promising candidates we fielded in this election, expectations were high.”

He acknowledged shortcomings, saying, “Maybe Sunomics didn’t really reach all the way down to the people as well as we had hoped. As the president of the party, the buck stops with me. I probably lacked in articulation to drive Thuendrel’s message and its manifesto hard enough.”

Despite the unexpected outcome, Kinga Tshering remains optimistic about the future of the party. He emphasised the trust in the young, talented, and capable candidates within DTT, saying, “We entrust DTT’s future to them. It is for them to carry it forward, and when the time comes for them to lead, we hope and pray the sun comes to shine.”