DRUK Journal – Democracy in Bhutan – Spring 2018
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Spring 2018 Volume 4, Issue 1 The Druk Journal འབྲུག་୲་䝴ས་䝺བ། ©2018 by The Druk Journal All rights reserved The views expressed in this publication are those of the contributors and not necessarily of The Druk Journal. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording, or otherwise, without permission from the publisher. ISSN 2411-6726 This publication is supported by DIPD and Open Society Foundations A Bhutan Centre for Media and Democracy Publication PO Box 1662, Thimphu, Bhutan www.bcmd.bt/www.drukjournal.bt Printed at Kuensel Corporation Ltd., Thimphu, Bhutan Dzongkha title calligraphy: Yonten Phuntsho Follow us on Facebook and Twitter འབྲུག་୲་དམངས་གཙོ荲་宱་譲མ། Democratisation of Bhutan www.drukjournal.bt The Druk Journal འབྲུག་୲་䝴ས་䝺བ། Contents Introduction 1 Editorial 2 DEMOCRACY IN BHUTAN Political Parties in the 21st Century Bjørn Førde 3 Democracy in Bhutan Dr Brian C. Shaw 14 DEMOCRACY DECENTRALISed Dhar from the Throne : an Honour and a Responsibility Kinley Dorji, Tashi Pem 24 The Micro Effect of Democratisation in Rural Bhutan Tshering Eudon 28 The Thromde Elections – an Inadequate Constituency? Ugyen Penjore 38 POLITicS OF DEMOCRACY Socio-economic Status and Electoral Participation in Bhutan Kinley 46 National Interest Versus Party Interest: What Former Chimis Think of Parliamentary Discussions Tashi Dema 59 The Bhutanese Politicians Kesang Dema 66 Youth and Politics in an Evolving Democracy Siok Sian Pek-Dorji 72 The Druk Journal འབྲུག་୲་䝴ས་䝺བ། Bhutanese Women in Politics - Myths and Realities Phuntshok Chhoden, Kunzang Lhamu 79 How the Bhutanese Vote in Elections: a Broad Mindscape of the Bhutanese Voter Needrup Zangpo 90 ReFLECTIONS ON The ELECTORAL SYSTEM Some Impact of Democratic Politics in Bhutan Tshering Palden, Tempa Wangdi 97 Interview Dr Karma Phuntsho on Bhutanese Democracy 105 SOCIAL MediA AND DEMOCRACY Social Media in Democracy: Is Something Missing? Stephan Sonnenberg 110 Social Media in Elections: What have We Wrought? Emmanuel C. Lallana, PhD 119 FROM The POLITicAL PARTieS 130 Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa (DNT) 132 Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) 135 People’s Democratic Party (PDP) 140 Introduction The Druk Journal is contributing to Bhutan’s growth as a democracy and as a modern nation state. It is becoming an increasingly vibrant public space in which we encourage our contributors to expand our national discourse by introducing new ideas and concepts into the Bhutanese conversation. Through regular publications, an interactive website, and open discussions after each edition, we engage Bhutanese society in conversation so that all citizens can exchange open and frank views on national policies and issues that are important for Bhutan. The Druk Journal hopes, not only to inform citizens, but to build a community of people that will play an active role, as individuals and as a community, in the development of analytical attitudes toward national policies. It is our hope that participation in such a community will encourage individuals to engage in policy research that can be made available to the government and larger Bhutanese society. The Druk Journal thus serves as a vehicle for the development of a community of people who are concerned about national issues and want to participate in the development of policy by thinking publicly and through conversation. Such a community of thinkers will also draw on the experience of other countries in those areas of political, social, economic, and cultural experimentation that are relevant to our own concerns. The Druk Journal is a non-partisan publication. Our purpose is to serve the national interest through the development of serious conversation on issues from every possible constructive point of view. We have no editorial position of our own. We believe that our stated objectives and the means we will use to achieve them are the best way in which we can serve our country and His Majesty The King. We invite the participation of all interested citizens and friends of Bhutan in this endeavour. Each edition of The Druk Journal will focus on a particular theme. 2018 being a year of general elections this seventh issue of The Druk Journal carries the theme “Party Politics and Elections in the Democratisation of Bhutan”. We wish you Good Reading, Good Thinking, and Good Conversation. 1 The Druk Journal འབྲུག་୲་䝴ས་䝺བ། Editorial Bhutan is approaching its third general election under the Constitution, which was adopted to establish a Democractic Constitutional Monarchy. The election being scheduled for late 2018, the Spring 2018 issue of The Druk Journal aims to contribute critically and constructively both to the 2018 elections and to the process of democratisation as another step forward. The proposed title for the spring 2018 issue of the journal is “Party Politics and Elections in the Democratisation of Bhutan”. A decade into the democratisation process in Bhutan, political discourse remains superficial and politics primarily personal. This issue of the Journal aims to take political discourse in Bhutan to a depth that Bhutanese society has not yet experienced. It also aims to encourage debate in the new election cycle that will focus more on issues than on the competitive promises that candidates make to win votes. To be distributed at a time when the political process is gathering momentum, The Druk Journal carries articles that analyse, honestly and realistically, the current stage of democratisation to seriously critique the electoral process and raise and discuss issues that candidates for parliament should be debating. The articles should encourage candidates to reflect on their activities and, at the same time, encourage the electorate to question politicians at a more profound level. The articles are authored by a broad range of people, including analysts, journalists, politicians involved in the electoral process, citizens who are observing and experiencing the political process, as well as observers in other parts of South Asia and beyond. They examine the electoral provisions of the Constitution, critique the first two elections that took place under the Constitution, raise issues that we think ought to form the substance of the political debate that should be at the centre of the 2018 electoral cycle, and realistically evaluate the evolving democratising system. The articles in this issue of The Druk Journal have both an immediacy of its publication during the 2018 electoral cycle and a clarity that encourages longer-range analysis and a deepening of the process of democratisation. 2 Democracy in Bhutan འབྲུག་轴་དམངས་གཙོ荲་譲ང་轴གས། Political Parties in the 21st Century Bjørn Førde How to Address the Challenges? Once upon a time My mother was born into a social democratic family, just like her father. She had been a party member since she was old enough to vote, and she voted for the party in every election. I once asked her if she had ever considered voting for a different party. “Never!” She told me. To her, this would be like committing heresy. Later, she admitted that there had been a few elections where the positions of her party were not exactly what she wanted. However, when she was in high school, her father had told her that there would be difficult moments, when she would be in doubt. This was only natural, but it would never be a good enough reason to leave the party or vote for another. Once a social democrat, always a social democrat! It was different with my father. He grew up on a middle-sized farm, and his father had been a member of the farmers’ party, — the Liberal Party — since he was old enough to vote. He ran successfully for a seat in the Rural Council, where the Liberal Party had a confident majority, and he was elected Chair several times. Maybe, if my father had stayed on the farm and decided to become a farmer, he would also have become a member of the Liberal Party. Instead, he got the opportunity to study in the city, where he met fellow students with a diverse range of political inclinations. My sense is that he chose to vote for a different party in almost every election. The examples of how my parents engaged with political parties half a century ago are not unique. Back then, more people than today were loyal members of a party. For many families, membership passed from one generation to the next. The ideologies of the parties were in many ways much clearer than what we see today. Different groups or classes in society tended to cluster around certain parties, like railroad workers with Social Democrats and farmers with Liberals. In general, politicians and parties were trusted and seen as key for the well-being and functioning of our democracy. 3 The Druk Journal འབྲུག་୲་䝴ས་䝺བ། Loss of Confidence in Political Parties Today, the position of the political party as a key institution of our democracy, trusted and supported by the majority of citizens and voters, is under threat. Opinion polls in many countries seem to tell the same story of politicians and parties being among the least trusted in society. Levels of trust vary from country to country, and from region to region, with North America at the lowest level of all right now, and Asia and the Pacific at the highest, which might come as a surprise to some. See the graphic presentation below.1 The specific reasons for the low levels of trust differ between countries and regions. However, some of the explanations are rather simple and straightforward, despite parties and politicians being different. We see unrealistic promises presented during election campaigns, with very little will, ability or possibility to deliver. We see examples of how politicians use politics as a platform to enrich themselves.