Hundreds of thousands of people in the tiny Himalayan nation of Bhutan went to the polls Saturday to elect a government in the country’s second parliamentary elections.
Officials began counting the votes after polls closed, and the results were expected to be made public on Sunday, Chief Election Commissioner Kunzang Wangdi said. Nearly 382,000 people were eligible to cast their vote to elect a 47-member National Assembly.
“Preliminary estimates indicate that more than 80 percent of the electorate has voted,” Wangdi said.
Primaries held in May had eliminated three of five political parties, leaving Bhutan’s ruling Peace and Prosperity Party and the main opposition People’s Democratic Party in the fray.
The remote nation of about 738,000 held its first election in 2008 after King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuk voluntarily reduced the monarchy’s role in running the country.
Prior to Saturday’s voting, election authorities had set up 850 polling stations, including in hard-to-reach mountain villages.
Long lines snaked out from polling stations throughout the day, with people coming out in droves to choose their representatives.
Authorities sealed off Bhutan’s borders with neighboring India, and the Bhutanese army assisted the country’s small police force to ensure that the elections passed peacefully, Wangdi said.
International poll observers from Britain, India and the European Union were in Bhutan, Wangdi said.
“The international observers are free to travel to any polling station to see the poll being conducted,” he said.
In the May primaries, the governing Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, or Peace and Prosperity Party, headed by outgoing Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley, secured 45 percent of the vote compared to the opposition PDP’s 35 percent.
Campaigning ahead of Saturday’s elections was largely subdued, with the 94 candidates holding small public meetings and rallies and participating in debates on state-run television.
In a bid to keep the elections free, the election commission prohibited candidates from offering food, including the customary cheese and beer, to people attending the rallies.
“No freebies. This was our directive to the political …read more
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