National Council elections results

The National Council (NC) elections are over. The country has chosen a new set of its upper house (apolitical) members who will collectively act as review house for next five years. After king nominates five people, the house becomes complete.

Most elected are new faces. People voted against the previous NC members. Out of 15 members of the erstwhile NC in the field recontesting, only 6 were re-elected. This will give a moral pressure on newly elected members on how to remain active to regain the support of the public in next elections.

The youngest is 26-year-old from Mongar and oldest is 49-year-old from Paro. In other terms, the house is completely young. People lost hopes that old and experienced people work better for their welfare.

Eight of the newly elected NC members have Bachelor’s degree while 11 have Masters degree. Only one has completed PhD.

Sonam Kinga of Trashigang received the highest votes (11,219 Yes votes) but he was not contested. Thus, among competitors Sangay Khandu of Samtse (Samchi) received the highest votes (9,907 votes). Most former NC members who lost the elections received least votes among contestants.

Unfortunately no female candidates were elected. There were five females contesting. The result will be symbolic threat to the new political parties who choose their female president in hope to gain public sympathy.

The voter turnout is much lower than expected. Only 44.7 per centre voters cast votes. It means, the voter turnout will further decrease during National Assembly election as it falls in rainy season, unless something is not done to attract voters.

Click on the following photo to see the full details of the elected NC members.

Source: http://www.ipajournal.com/2013/04/24/national-council-elections-results/

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