The Secret and Sacred of our Elections

Introduction

Between the announcement of surprise names, people jumping lines to be presidents of political parties, and failed registration of new parties by some seeming novices, there is a lot of confusion among the majority of the electorate. What the hell is going on? Many seem to be asking. Many are unable to fathom the difference between the NC and NA – forget the elections! Against this backdrop, I thought I would share my own grasps and musings.

Disclaimer: The write-up in this blog story is based on my own understanding and knowledge and is intended for light reading. Both facts and imagination have been used to build up the story. There is no malice intended towards any individual or organisation.

The Basics

With the introduction of constitutional monarchy in 2008, Bhutan has a bicameral parliament, with elections to both the houses held every five years. The upper house is known as National Council (NC), while the lower house is called National Assembly (NA).

The NC is an apolitical house of review. It consists of 25 members, one from each of the twenty districts of Bhutan and five eminent members nominated by His Majesty the King. Each of the Geogs (village blocks) in a Dzongkhag (district) nominates a candidate. If a Geog has more than one candidate, the candidates face election at the Geog level in order to move to the Dzongkhag level to face candidates from other Geogs. On the other hand, if a Geog has only one candidate, his/her election is done through a yes/no vote. However, it is not mandatory for a Geog to nominate a candidate for the NC elections. For example, in the upcoming NC elections, Samdrup Jongkhar doesn’t have a candidate from as many as four Geogs.   

On the other hand, the NA consists of elected members from the 47 constituencies that Bhutan has been divided into. ‘Before selecting your bulls, select the herd.’ I remember hearing my late father share this with his colleagues while I was a farm boy. In a way, elections to the NA bear a parable to my late father’s wisdom.

Elections to the NA are held in two rounds. The first is the primary round, which involves the electorate voting for the party of their choice. Bhutan has at least four parties contesting the upcoming NA elections. In the primary round, eligible voters vote for the party of their choice and two parties with the highest number of nationwide votes qualify for the general round held subsequently. People cast their votes on the basis of party leadership, manifesto as well as the tentative candidates for the various constituencies. In the primary round, voters select the proverbial herd to ensure that the eventual bulls bear good pedigrees.

In the general elections, each of the two parties that has emerged victorious in the primaries nominates a candidate for every constituency. At this stage, the farmer moves deeper within the herd and starts selecting his bulls. The general round is driven by the vigour, verbosity and veracity of the candidates representing the various constituencies. At the end of the election, 47 candidates from either of the two parties win the election. The party winning the majority of the constituencies gets to form the government. The other party forms the opposition in the NA.

Daju, Bhauju and I after casting our votes for the NC elections - we are displaying our Voter Photo ID Cards

Voting is compulsory

A quick read of Internet sources says that in barely 13% of the countries around the world voting is compulsory. And many countries don’t enforce it. Interestingly, Australia is among the countries where voting is compulsory! Bhutan belongs to the major league, where voting is optional.  

In 2008, I failed to convince my wife that voting was not compulsory. Smarting from the after-effects of the turmoil of the nineties, she chose to ignore my advice and pleads and travelled to Neoly with other like-minded voters.

I have a feeling that many people still don’t believe that voting is not compulsory. Thus, fear makes the mare go! People are dragged to their constituencies out of fear. Fear, in this case, is good. As many voters live and work far from their polling booths, exercising franchise involves expense of time and money. For example, if I travel to my constituency (Shiling Gye, Pemathang) I need a minimum of five days of time and Ngultrum 20,000, which is a sizeable portion of my monthly income.

However, eligible citizens must make enough efforts to cast their vote. I believe that the state must come half way in terms of creating the right atmosphere and accessibility to voters, with citizens covering the other half. In spite of some limitations and strictures, the Election Commission of Bhutan has been improving acceptance, accessibility and approval to encourage citizens to vote. For example, the Postal Ballot Facilitation Booths set up in various locations in several districts for the NC elections allowed the likes of me to ‘vote in person’. As such, it is not ok if you do not vote. You are not fulfilling your fundamental duties. You are not acting as a responsible citizen.

Voting may not be compulsory, but then as W Edwards Deming is said to have said even survival is not compulsory!  A distant cousin of mine recently asked me, ‘kaka, I believe they will keep a record of voters and then one day those who do not vote will be punished’. My answer didn’t convince him.  If you have not committed a crime, not committing it for a long time, doesn’t make you a criminal!

Elections and GNH

Whether elections enhance or stymie happiness depends on the lens you use to analyse the issue.

Take the lens of my young cousins who have been given away in marriage out of Neoly and live in faraway places - Sarpang and Dorokha. Even as elections are announced, my cousins take the opportunity to return home, even for a fleeting moment, a sojourn. They always use the pretext of the elections to visit their parental homes and reunite with their parents and siblings. If we were to measure happiness around elections time in such homes, probably we would beat Norway. Meanwhile, I hope my nieces and others who believe in voting will have plenty of time and resources to travel thrice to their constituencies in 2018, as the NC elections will be followed by the primary and the general round of the NA elections.

The other is a stormier lens. Take the example of two NC candidates in Tsirang. They are first cousins and got nominated from their respective Geog. While they are busy canvassing and honing their national language, their families have stopped visiting each other even as they try to muster support for their respective prospect. That deludes happiness.

Secret ballot and open secrets  

The fundamentals of democracy are universal adult franchise and secret ballot. Not sacred as some of our Facebookers are wont to believe betraying their carelessness and limited lexicon.  The essence and understanding of ‘secret’ allow our uneducated electorate to vote without fear and favour.

It is more important for ballots to be secret than sacred, even if we believe in the purification of our Electronic Voting Machines by our monks. There should be no emotion in politics. Your vote should be based on objective choice. Go for selection by elimination, if you don’t know any of the candidate, but vote you must!  

My elder sister called me the other day from far away Neoly. ‘Kanchha’, she enquired, ‘Phuntsho wants to take us to Daifam in his Bolero. What should we do?’ She was referring to an upcoming wedding of one of my nephews in Daifam and Phuntsho is apparently one of the ‘king makers’ in local politics.  I told her to go ahead and make hay while the sun shines. By now even my barely educated relatives in the village have come to understand that no one would after all know who they have voted for.

Similarly, the other day I received a call from an unregistered number. After introducing himself, Dawa invited me to come to the town ‘later in the evening’. I was confused and a bit annoyed. My wife even suggested, ‘who is bigger? He or you? Who is he to just call you to town?’  Later I understood that Dawa was acting like a ‘pimp’ to a brothel. A political candidate that he was patronizing had come to know that some twenty of us living in Thimphu enjoy a significant influence in our community. He intended to throw a dinner by way of getting to know each other. I checked with my brother and uncle. We went, met the pimp and his political bunny and enjoyed a scrumptious dinner. The ballot is, after all, secret!

Public Holiday

What I like the most about our elections is the holidays. I am a big fan of holidays and have a knack for memorizing the entire calendar of public holidays on January first itself. As postal voters, I and my wife get to vote in advance. With the election day comes a public holiday. However, as I have no voting to do – I get an extra day of full paid holiday. Thank you, democracy!

Endnote: ‘Everyone knows who we should be voting for. The trouble is no one knows who this ‘everyone’ is? People of Bhutan, do vote; you have nothing to lose except your franchise!