Another New political party comes forward

This will take the total number of political parties to six for the 2013 elections. One of the main organizers of the party, Sonam Tobgay says that the party is a ‘unique one’.

 

In the recent months there had been speculation of a political party organized primarily by a working consultant that would soon announce itself as the ‘Fifth party’. This would be the fifth party after the four known parties of the ruling Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, the opposition People’s Democratic Party and the two new parties of Druk Nyamrup Tshogpa and Druk Mitsher Tshogpa.

However, before this mysterious fifth party could announce itself, its fifth position was usurped by Druk Chirwang Tshogpa (DCT) who unexpectedly announced themselves in an exclusive story in The Bhutanese on Saturday. The DCT comprised of new members and some who broke away from the Druk Mitsher Tshogpa and claimed to have 300 members and 12 candidates with a possible woman President.

With this new twist in the political potboiler of the 2013 elections, the much talked about original ‘fifth party’ will now have to come forward as the ‘sixth party’ a week later after DCT announced its presence.

This new party will formally announce its presence today at 10.30 am in a press conference and will release the party’s name, symbol, ideology, and core philosophies

However, one of the main organizers of the party, Sonam Tobgay a former civil servant in the Ministry of Forest and Agriculture and now a working consultant talked exclusively to The Bhutanese about the latest party.

“The formation of the party was not done overnight but rather it took some time to work on,” said Sonam Tobgay.

He said that the party is currently working on a leader who can understand economic management of the country beyond just diplomacy and charisma.

The party claims to have no ‘corporate format’ unlike some other parties and believes that it is a strong and organized party with a passionately driven team spirit.

“This is a unique party, the members deem themselves as being more ‘native’ with strong a belief in themselves,” said Sonam Tobgay.

“The party’s means will be justifying our ends. So we have to achieve our ends by justifying our means,” said, Sonam Tobgay.

Upon enquiry on the party leadership, Sonam Tobgay said, “One must underline that in Bhutan, we have the king as our undisputed leader and the symbol of unity, and political parties in turn should produce the best executive teams that can get the development done.”

“Given this premise, we recognize the importance of leadership and we have potential leaders in the party.”He added like all parties, they too left it to their executive team, on who to elect and how to elect at the most appropriate time. Speaking on the appropriate time, he said this process had to be hastened sooner or later.

“We also recognize that a single leader is not everything as teamwork is important. Every member is equally important and must play his or her equal role and be granted equal importance for governance,” said Sonam Tobgay.

He said, the party will capitalize on its collective experiences and knowledge, and its member will play an equal role as this will be critical to the success of the party, and more importantly for taking on the electoral mandate with a conscience.