registered parties contesting the general round. The primary round not only legitimises the parties (even if there are only two of them), voters will also know which one is more popular in different constituencies. As views and debates on this issue continued, the Election Commission also declared that a primary round would not be necessary if only two parties were to contest. Then, the erstwhile BPUP defected from DPT accusing its leaders of undemocratic and unfair party practices in nominating candidates. Not all members defected but the smaller BPUP vowed to form a strong party, register with the Election Commission and open offices in all the districts. It claimed strong support from sizeable number of people. When the PDP and DPT began their “familiarisation tours”, the BPUP was grappling to develop itself into a good party institution. The Election Commission permitted parties and candidates to undertake introductory visits to their constituencies called the “familiarisation tours”. During these tours, parties and candidates were permitted to introduce themselves and their parties, and share their interest to contest elections. However, they were not expected to campaign which could be done only after the Election Commission announced the campaign dates. Over weeks and months, the distinction between familiarisation visits and formal campaigns were beginning to blur. Bhutan People's Unregistered Party On 27 November 2007, the Election Commission disqualified the BPUP as a political party after it submitted the application to register. A news story in Bhutan Observer on 30 November 2007 reported the Election Commission stating that the BPUP “does not have the capacity to fulfill the national aspirations, visions and goals, in terms of its ability to run the Government [sic] and have candidates who could be members of the cabinet and parliament […] It lacks credible leadership […] and has only an interim president, when under the laws there have to be key office bearers democratically appointed.” It lacks both maturity and the appropriate mix and strength in terms of its membership since more than 80 percent of the members are (school) drop-outs or have no credible academic qualifications.” Despite claiming to have the support of more than 2,500 youths and thousands of voters, the group has only 13 names enrolled in the Electoral Roll out of 42 members mentioned at the time of application. The commission also accused it of not being broad based and crossnational since it claimed to be a party of the “down-trodden”. The party's charter was said to have “no clear ideology, vision and mission, indicating the lack of leadership with capability to envision goals and objectives of the group.” A stunned BPUP vowed to appeal against the decision. They had several justifications. For example, the party said it would have a democratically elected president once it (the party) was registered. Concerning members who are school drop-outs, they pointed out that the Election Bill does not require party members to have academic qualification; only electoral candidates need a university degree. They called themselves a party for the downtrodden because they were not led by any former ministers. The leaders said the ideology was more or less similar to the two other parties. Their strongest statement was that democracy was new and everyone was
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bound to make mistakes. The Election Commission “should guide and help us, not kill us straightaway.” The BPUP did appeal but the Election Commission upheld its decision, leaving only two parties in the political arena. The formation of a third party was very unlikely by then as polls were nearing. National Council Elections Except for national seminars that the Election Commission conducted to educate voters about the role and responsibilities of the National Council, most of its focus, energy and resources were spent on the run-up to the National Assembly elections. The media increasingly highlighted the fact that the National Assembly was overshadowing the National Council whose elections were ahead of the National Assembly. It was in this context that the one-day briefing for potential candidates was held. The general populace, however, remained more or less unaware about its apolitical nature. The National Council is an apolitical body, which means that candidates and elected members cannot be affiliated to any political party. Irrespective of geographic or demographic size, each of the 20 districts in the kingdom can elect a representative to the National Council from two or more candidates nominated in that district by subadministrative units called gewogs. In addition to the 20 representatives directly elected by the people, the king will nominate five eminent persons. The council will thus have a total of 25 members. On the other hand, candidates for the 47-seat National Assembly must necessarily belong to a political party. Each district can have a minimum of two and a maximum of seven candidates. Thus, a district which constitutes a constituency for the National Council is delimited into two or more constituencies for the National Assembly. Elected members of both the houses will serve a five-year term. On 31 December 2007, a total of 44 candidates contested for 15 seats in the National Council. Elections to the other five seats were postponed by a month because the Election Commission directed that there should be at least two candidates contesting for a seat to give the people a fair choice. There was not even a single candidate from Gasa, the smallest district. Trashi Yangtse and Haa had more than one candidate but they were disqualified by the Election Commission for not possessing a formal university degree which is a qualification criterion for every candidate. When these five districts went to the polls a month later on 29 January 2008, Gasa had managed to nominate one candidate, Thimphu had two and Trashi Yangtse four while Lhuntse and Haa could not nominate a second candidate. Thus, the three districts of Gasa, Haa and Lhuntse had an “uncontested election”. General Elections On 24 March 2008, 11 months after the first mock election of the primary round, 252,812 Bhutanese voters from a total of 318,465 registered voters went to the polls of the general round. A total of 161,169 women and 157,296 men went to vote in 865
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