Election system and administration

The Constitution of Bhutan provides for a two-chamber parliament of the National Council (upper house) and National Assembly (lower house). The National Council Elections were held on 31 December 2007 and 29 January 2008 (5 races were postponed because they initially had only one candidate competing) when 20 of the 25 total members were elected (5 members are appointed by the King), one from each district (dzongkhag). The 47 members of the National Assembly will be elected on a first-past-the-post basis, from single-member constituencies. While the candidates of the National Council are all non-partisan, candidates for the National Assembly have to be nominated by political parties.

Elections to the National Assembly should be held in two rounds. In the primary election, political parties compete for the right to run in the second round of elections. The two parties that receive the highest number of votes go on to the second round, with the intention of creating a two-party chamber with a ruling party and an opposition party. Because there are only two parties currently registered, no primary round was needed for these elections.

The Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) is responsible for the overall conduct of elections. The ECB was first created as an independent body in January 2006. It is composed of a Chief Election Commissioner and two Election Commissioners, who are appointed to a five-year term by the King from a list of names recommended by the Prime Minister, Chief Justice, Speaker, Chairperson of the National Council and the Leader of the Opposition Party. The current Chief Election Commissioner, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, was formerly the Auditor General. The ECB is assisted by the Secretariat, which is led by the Director.

The election bill assigns a broad range of responsibilities to the ECB, including: direction of the preparation of the electoral rolls, registration of political parties, delimitation of electoral boundaries, issuing of rules detailing the conduct of the election process, voter education, oversight of party and campaign finance and expenditure and adjudication of complaints and appeals during the election process.

In each of the 20 districts (dzongkhag), the governor (dzongdag) is designated as the Chief Electoral Coordinator during the election period. His main function is to facilitate the working of the ECB in conducting democratic elections in his district. In addition, the Election Commission appoints a civil servant in every district as Dzongkhag Electoral Officer (DzEO). The DzEO is responsible for the update of the voter lists, assisted by a Registration Officer and a Delimitation Clerk. The DzEO is also responsible for the provision of polling stations and the printing of postal ballot papers.

At the constituency level, the Election Commission designates a civil servant as Returning Officer (RO) for the election period. The Returning Officer decides on candidate nominations, receives postal ballot applications and has overall responsibility for the count. The Returning Officer may be assisted by one or more Assistant Returning Officers (ARO).

The RO appoints a Presiding Officer for each polling station. The Presiding Officer is responsible to see that polls are conducted democratically (“in a free and fair manner”) and according to the legislation. The RO also appoints Polling Officer(s) to assist the Presiding Officer in the performance of his functions.

The RO appoints a Counting Supervisor and Counting Assistants to assist him in conducting the count following the close of polls. In polling stations where the count will be conducted on the spot (i.e. most polling stations, except in special circumstances) the Presiding Officer is designated by the RO to act as the Counting Supervisor.

National observers are civil servants assigned to the ECB for the election period to report independently on the conduct of election officials, political parties and voters at the local level. There are 52 national observers working for this election (at least one in each constituency), who report daily to the ECB on their findings.