New party officially registered yesterday
Dechen Dolkar
Providing choice to the electorate, the new political party, Druk Thuendrel Tshogpa (DTT) registered as the fifth political party in the country.
The Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) formally registered DTT to contest for the 2023 parliamentary elections. The party applied for registration on May 26, this year.
With DTT in the fray, there are now five registered political parties in the country.
The party has fulfilled, as per Section 135 of the Election Act of Bhutan 2008, the key aspects required for registration which includes the name of the party, election symbol, party offices, broad-based membership, tentative candidates and party charter.
While finding candidates even for some registered political parties is becoming an uphill task, DTT has tentative candidates from all the 47 constituencies.
DTT president, Kinga Tshering, said that this occasion (formal registration) brought an overwhelming sense of achievement. “It stems from the satisfaction of reaping the fruits of our relentless preparations to see this day.”
The president said that it also brings a great sense of apprehension. “The real work begins now and we already feel the weight of the responsibility on our shoulders.”
DTT, the party president said, would like to be a value-based political party in pursuit of a Gross National Happiness state.
“We want trust, humanity, and loyalty value-based political party.”
The party claimed they have identified members from diverse backgrounds to represent. The president said that they have five candidates with PhD degrees, eight with engineering backgrounds, four from the finance field, three economists, three digital technology experts, two electronics background, and four from the education field. “Majority of the candidates have working experience of more than 20 years and there are around 15 young candidates. We also have 12 women candidates so far,” said Kinga Tshering.
DTT will soon be on the road for familiarisation tours to all the dzongkhags after receiving approval from ECB. The president said that they will listen and discuss the problems with the people at the chiwog level and look for solutions.
A unique feature of the party, the president said, will be their parliamentarian coordination committee. “If the party gets elected, the committee will ensure coordination among candidates who got elected, those who could not be elected and dzongkhag coordinators,” Kinga Tshering said. “If elected, the committee members will remind the government about the pledges every three months. Out of 13 members, 11 of them will be candidates who could not get elected.”
This the president said was learning from past experience. “There is no coordination between the members who got elected and who could not get elected among all the political parties,” he said.
DTT claims that so far, they have around 600 to 700 registered members.