The Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) has formally declared the result of the General Election to the National Assembly 2013 from 47 demkhongs on July 14.
The Chief Election Commissioner of Bhutan Dasho Kuenzang Wangdi said, “As per Section 8 of Article 15 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bhutan, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), having secured a majority of seats with32 winning candidates in the National Assembly, is elected as the ruling party, and Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT), having won15National Assembly seats, is elected as the Opposition Party by the people of Bhutan.”
The candidates of the two parties who participated in the General Elections 2013 are reminded to file the returns of election expenses to the concerned Dzongkhag Electoral Office or directly to the Public Election Fund Division in the Election Commission Head Office within thirty days of the declaration of the result, in the prescribed form (Public Election Fund Form No. 7D) i.e. not later than 5 pm of 13 August 2013.
The Expenditure Report on the conduct of the Second Parliamentary Elections 2013 will be prepared and made available for public viewing in due course of time, but not later than three months timeframe.
The PDP has secured 112705 votes from the electronic voting machine (EVM) and 25853 postal ballots, where as the DPT secured total votes of 95521 through EVM and 18406 through postal ballots. PDP secured total votes of 82.5% and DPT secured total votes of 17.5%.
A total of 99815 male and 108411 female voters voted through EVM. 25802 male and 18457 female voters have cast their votes through postal ballots. The vote cast through EVM is 54.53% and the postal ballot is 11.59%
The overall voter turnout was66.1% with a total of 252,485 voters having cast their votes out of the total of381,790 registered voters. Of the total votes cast, 208,226 votes were cast in person on the electronic voting machines (EVM) in the 850 polling stations and 44,259 votes through postal ballots.
The general public and all stakeholders have been advised that the Election Petition Period of ten working days start from July 14 and shall end at 5.00 pm on July 26.