April 23, 2013 marks the general election in the Kingdom of Bhutan. 20 Councillors, one each from twenty districts will be elected on this day.
The king, whether the fourth king Jigme Singye or his son the present king Jigme Khesar owe still the great deal of power to elcet 5 Councillors on the behalf of the monarchy. It is not known outside who will be elected and how by these two kings.
The ruling party of Jigme Yoeser Thinlay Druk Puensum Tshogpa is comfortably lobbying for its second winning, where has its oppositon Bhutan Democratic Party is creaping up to contest equally. Its leader, the king's in-law, Sangay Ngedup shy away when he lost the expected seats in the 2008 election. Only three seats it woned was later grew to controversy.
Meanwhile 5 parties will be contesting the upcoming election. The three new parties are Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT), Bhutan Kuen-Ngyam Party (BKNP) and Druk Chirwang Tshogpa (DCT). Two of the three are headed by female, an encouraging change in woman's political emancipation.
All these parties claim that their political ideology is social democracy and Gross National Happiness. The policy manifestos include balanced regional economic development, equitable social development, good governance, capitalism, voice of voiceless, devolution of power, nurturing Indo-Bhutan friendship, fight against crony capitalism and inclusive economic growth. It seems the parties are stating whatever words that would appease the current political culture.Surprising they hardly speak of the human rights and freedoms, the right of the minorities and the refugee issues.
A country with less than 700,000 populations has almost 20% of the total population living outside in exile. In exile too there are three political parties, namely BPP, BNDP and DNC, which have campaigned for the change in Bhutan since the early 1990s. More than 30,000 Bhutanese refugees are still in the UNHCR organized camps in East Nepal awaiting repatriation. Bhutanese so called democratic government has always denied their repatriation.
The emerging political scenario in Bhutan appears at best, still under controll by the state interest. The state interest is to have upper hand of the oligarchy and uphold the values of Drukpa culture alone however the there are many ethnic groups with different culture and aspirations.
Meanwhile the Dutch media professionals are ahead in preparing the Bhutanese journalists on how to report the forthcoming election. They began training in December 2012 at The Radio Netherlands World Service where a training center is also envisaged.
A local portal in Hilversum highlighted the news that the Dutch are busy with the Bhutanese media counterparts to train them how to report the election news. Bhutanese journalists do know however how to report and how avoid reporting the news events following their own national culture. Although they may learn a lot about the use of the new technology, its use practically would de restricted by the norms of editing and reporting set by the media corporations like Bhutan Broadcasting Service and Kuensel. This can be attributed by the fact that about 80 000 Bhutanese mainly the ethnic Lhotshampas were denied the right to adult franchise in the first election of 2008 and that was not reported yet by the Bhutanese media. This trend of exclusive assertion is likely to follow in the forthcoming election because non of the parties are raising this issue of subdued adult franchise in Bhutan.
This year many Dutch journalists are likely to visit Bhutan during the election, but yet hopes are very dismal to hear the balanced news coming out of the country. If they do report all the sides of the election, particularly the discrimination factors against the Lhotshampas, then it could be their last visit for reporting in Bhutan.
The king, whether the fourth king Jigme Singye or his son the present king Jigme Khesar owe still the great deal of power to elcet 5 Councillors on the behalf of the monarchy. It is not known outside who will be elected and how by these two kings.
The ruling party of Jigme Yoeser Thinlay Druk Puensum Tshogpa is comfortably lobbying for its second winning, where has its oppositon Bhutan Democratic Party is creaping up to contest equally. Its leader, the king's in-law, Sangay Ngedup shy away when he lost the expected seats in the 2008 election. Only three seats it woned was later grew to controversy.
Meanwhile 5 parties will be contesting the upcoming election. The three new parties are Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT), Bhutan Kuen-Ngyam Party (BKNP) and Druk Chirwang Tshogpa (DCT). Two of the three are headed by female, an encouraging change in woman's political emancipation.
All these parties claim that their political ideology is social democracy and Gross National Happiness. The policy manifestos include balanced regional economic development, equitable social development, good governance, capitalism, voice of voiceless, devolution of power, nurturing Indo-Bhutan friendship, fight against crony capitalism and inclusive economic growth. It seems the parties are stating whatever words that would appease the current political culture.Surprising they hardly speak of the human rights and freedoms, the right of the minorities and the refugee issues.
A country with less than 700,000 populations has almost 20% of the total population living outside in exile. In exile too there are three political parties, namely BPP, BNDP and DNC, which have campaigned for the change in Bhutan since the early 1990s. More than 30,000 Bhutanese refugees are still in the UNHCR organized camps in East Nepal awaiting repatriation. Bhutanese so called democratic government has always denied their repatriation.
The emerging political scenario in Bhutan appears at best, still under controll by the state interest. The state interest is to have upper hand of the oligarchy and uphold the values of Drukpa culture alone however the there are many ethnic groups with different culture and aspirations.
Meanwhile the Dutch media professionals are ahead in preparing the Bhutanese journalists on how to report the forthcoming election. They began training in December 2012 at The Radio Netherlands World Service where a training center is also envisaged.
A local portal in Hilversum highlighted the news that the Dutch are busy with the Bhutanese media counterparts to train them how to report the election news. Bhutanese journalists do know however how to report and how avoid reporting the news events following their own national culture. Although they may learn a lot about the use of the new technology, its use practically would de restricted by the norms of editing and reporting set by the media corporations like Bhutan Broadcasting Service and Kuensel. This can be attributed by the fact that about 80 000 Bhutanese mainly the ethnic Lhotshampas were denied the right to adult franchise in the first election of 2008 and that was not reported yet by the Bhutanese media. This trend of exclusive assertion is likely to follow in the forthcoming election because non of the parties are raising this issue of subdued adult franchise in Bhutan.This year many Dutch journalists are likely to visit Bhutan during the election, but yet hopes are very dismal to hear the balanced news coming out of the country. If they do report all the sides of the election, particularly the discrimination factors against the Lhotshampas, then it could be their last visit for reporting in Bhutan.
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