འག་ག་བཙག་འའི ་བཅའ་ི མས་༢༠༠༨ི ཅན་མ། Election Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan, 2008 མཆད་བོ ོད། ༆བདེ་གཤེགས་གས་ེ་་གཏེར་ཡངས་པ་ལས།། ང་ོགས་དམ་ཆོས་ས་པའི་འདབ་ོང་།། ེ་ོད་འཛིན་པའི་ང་བ་འམ་ཚོགས་ཀྱི།། བ་མེད་རིན་ཆེན་གམ་པོའི་ཤས་པ་ི ོལ།། ལ་ཀུན་ིང་ེ་རང་གགས་བས་ཆན་དང་།།ེ ིད་ཞིའ་བས་མགི ོན་ཨ་ན་པད་མ་ོ ེ།། ང་འག་མ་ལ་དཔལ་ན་འག་པའི་ཞབས།། ཡང་ཡང་གུས་པའ་དད་ག་འམ་གྱི ས་བི གས།།ེ མཁྱེན་པའི་ཡ་ཤེ ེས་དགྲ་འལ་དཔའ་བའོ ི་གགས།། བེ་བའི་གས་བེད་འབངས་འཁོར་་བཞན་ི ོང་།། ས་པའི་གཟི་མདངས་འཛམ་གླིང་ཡོངས་འོ་བའི།། ཆོས་ལ་བཞི་པའ་བཀྲི ིན་བསམ་བཞིན་འད།། གས་བེད་་ལམ་ཡངས་པའ་འི ོད་ང་གིས།། ོངས་འདིར་ཟེ་འ་གསར་པ་རབ་བཞད་ནས།། ན་ོངས་བདེ་ིད་དཔལ་ཡོན་ག་པའ་མགི ོན།། མི་དབང་་པ་ེ་འགྲོ་ཡོངས་ཀྱི་ན།། ལ་ཁབ་ཞི་བདེ་གོང་འཕེལ་ོལ་ཁྱུན་གྱི།། རང་བཙན་དགུང་་འེན་པའི་བན་གྱི་གཞི།། རང་མོས་མ་དག་བཙག་འའི་ཐབས་བཟང་ལམ།། ལ་བཞིན་འེན་ེད་ལ་་ེལ་བར་།། Table of Contents PREAMBLE .............................................................................. 1 CHAPTER 1 .............................................................................. 2 PRELIMINARY ....................................................................... 2 Short Title, Extent and Commencement ..................................... 2 Repeal ......................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER 2 .............................................................................. 3 CONSTITUENCIES ................................................................. 3 Single Member Constituency ...................................................... 3 Allocation of Seats in the National Assembly ............................ 3 The National Council .................................................................. 4 Dzongkhag Tshogdu ................................................................... 6 Allocation of Seats in Gewog Tshogde ...................................... 6 Allocation of Seats in Thromde Tshogde ................................... 8 CHAPTER 3 .............................................................................. 9 THE ELECTION COMMISSION .......................................... 9 Election Commission .................................................................. 9 Eligibility Criteria ....................................................................... 9 Appointing Authority .................................................................. 9 i Oath or Affirmation of Office ................................................... 10 Term of Office .......................................................................... 10 Removal from Office ................................................................ 10 Terms and Condition of Service ............................................... 10 Role of the Chief Election Commissioner ................................ 11 Majority Decision ..................................................................... 11 Functions and Duties of the Election Commission ................... 12 Powers of the Election Commission ......................................... 13 Powers of a Court...................................................................... 14 Powers to Deploy Security Personnel ....................................... 15 Power to Requisition ................................................................. 15 Authority of the Election Commission ..................................... 16 Submission of Rules to Druk Gyalpo and Parliament .............. 16 Jurisdiction of Courts Barred .................................................... 17 Review Electoral System .......................................................... 17 Secretariat ................................................................................. 17 Immunities ................................................................................ 17 ii CHAPTER 4 ............................................................................ 18 ELECTION OFFICERS ........................................................ 18 Role of Chief Election Co-ordinator during Elections ............. 18 Dzongkhag Electoral Officer .................................................... 18 Dzongkhag Electoral Registration Officers and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers ................................................. 19 Returning Officers .................................................................... 20 Assistant Returning Officer ...................................................... 20 Presiding Officers ..................................................................... 21 Polling Officers ......................................................................... 21 Counting Personnel ................................................................... 22 Deputation ................................................................................. 22 Observers .................................................................................. 23 CHAPTER 5 ............................................................................ 25 DELIMITATION .................................................................... 25 Delimitation Commission ......................................................... 25 Power and Authority ................................................................. 25 Composition of the Delimitation Commission ......................... 26 Meeting of the Delimitation Commission ................................. 26 iii Delimitation of Constituencies ................................................. 27 Publication of Orders and their Date of Operation ................... 29 Re-adjustment in Number of Members of National Assembly and Local Governments ............................................................ 30 Power of the Election Commission to Amend the Delimitation Order .............................................................. 31 CHAPTER 6 ............................................................................ 33 VOTERS .................................................................................. 33 Qualifications of Voters ............................................................ 33 Disqualifications for Voters ...................................................... 34 CHAPTER 7 ............................................................................ 35 ELECTORAL ROLLS ........................................................... 35 Electoral Rolls for Parliamentary Constituencies ..................... 35 Preparation of Electoral Rolls for Parliamentary Constituencies.................................................... 35 Voter Photo Identity Card (VPIC) ............................................ 37 Public Inspection of the Electoral Roll ..................................... 37 Revision of Electoral Rolls for Parliamentary Constituencies.................................................... 39 Authority to Add or Delete Name in the Electoral Roll ........... 40 Qualifying Date ......................................................................... 41 Correction of Entries in Finally Published Electoral Rolls ....... 41 Inclusion of Names in Finally Published Electoral Rolls ......... 42 iv Temporary Embargo on Entries in Electoral Rolls ................... 43 Appeals ..................................................................................... 43 Electoral Rolls for National Council Constituencies ................ 44 Electoral Rolls for Gewogs, Chiwogs and Constituencies for Dzongkhag Thromdes ............................................................... 44 Use of Information from the Electoral Roll .............................. 44 CHAPTER 8 ............................................................................ 45 POLITICAL PARTIES .......................................................... 45 Registration with the Election Commission of a Party as Political Party ............................................................................ 45 Guiding Principles of Political Parties ...................................... 45 Register of Political Parties ....................................................... 49 Dissolution of Political Party .................................................... 50 Annual Account of Political Parties .......................................... 53 Membership to Political Parties ................................................ 53 Nomination of Candidates for Elections ................................... 54 Income of Political Parties ........................................................ 54 Registration Fee ........................................................................ 54 Membership Fee........................................................................ 55 Voluntary Contributions ........................................................... 55 v CHAPTER 9 ............................................................................ 56 OFFICE OF PROFIT ............................................................. 56 Criteria for Determining an Office of Profit ............................. 56 Posts under the Companies Act of the Kingdom of Bhutan ..... 57 Permissible Offices ................................................................... 58 Decision on Disqualification ..................................................... 59 CHAPTER 10 .......................................................................... 62 QUALIFICATIONS AND DISQUALIFICATIONS FOR CANDIDATES ............................................................... 62 Qualifications ............................................................................ 62 Qualifications of Candidates ....................................................