This is what the Secretary General of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) says when quizzed what the party can offer to the people of Bhutan in the next elections
Chencho Dema from Punakha
As we gear up for the third parliamentary elections, the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) maintained that the party is offering the nation a crop of the best possible leaders this year.
“Led by our Lyonchhen, Dasho Tshering Tobgay as the president, and Lyonpo Dasho Dorji Choden as our vice president, we have serving ministers, former government secretaries, director generals, directors, dzongdas, former National Council MPs and doctors, and professionals from various sectors,” the party stated.
The above statement was in response to a question about what the party can offer to the people of Bhutan, most importantly in 2018.
PDP’s Secretary General Sonam Jatso said PDP has always believed in offering the people the best choices and the party believes that they are offering the nation the best possible crop of leaders this year.
Mentioning about the PDP’s priorities, amongst many others, he said they could be surmised under their pledges of unity, stability and progress.
“Firstly, we are offering a pledge of unity. Democracy and party politics have unfortunately created divisions in our society. The PDP shall strive our best to ensure that we address this and work towards reinvigorating the spirit of being Bhutanese and to ensure that there is unity in the country,” he said, adding that the party will also offer a pledge of stability in the country to achieve any kind of growth or development and that a nation has to be stable.
“The party values this and believes that stability is the means and also an end in itself. There cannot be growth or development without stability and the PDP is offering a pledge to make Bhutan a stable nation,” Sonam Jatso explained.
“We will offer a pledge of progress. Our nation will only see the light of progress with unity and stability. We are offering a pledge of progress with unity and stability where every Bhutanese shall be able to exercise his/her democratic rights and privileges,” he added.
Meanwhile, PDP is the first political party in the country which served as the first opposition of democratic Bhutan with just two MPs. However, in the second democratic term, the people of Bhutan voted for PDP giving them the mandate to form the second government.
1.What is your party’s vision?
Answer: A country with secured sovereignty that is economically vibrant, environmentally rich, socio-culturally just and harmonious, politically united that enables the pursuit of happiness by every Bhutanese.
2.How does your party intend to achieve the PDP’s vision?
Answer: Today, Bhutan has an experience of 10 years of being a democracy and despite being a young democracy, it has cemented a reputation of a forward looking nation in the international arena. Bhutan is also well poised to graduate from the LDC list and we have a maturing populace that is second to no other country in the world.
Moreover, the biggest motivation for Bhutan has always been, and continues to be our benevolent monarchs under whose guidance we are confident that we shall only see a brighter future. The PDP is confident that we are on the right path and we shall continue to serve the Tsa-Wa-Sum with the utmost dedication and with humility and we are sure that we will achieve our vision for our beloved nation.
3.What chances do you think your party in the upcoming elections? Why so?
Answer: We believe that our people have come of age. Our people understand what kind of a government is required to take our beloved nation forward. So it is for our people to decide through their democratic franchise who to vote for and it is for them to rate the chances of every political party.
As far as we are concerned, we are committed in our belief that we will always serve the nation to the best of our abilities. Therefore, we commit our part by offering the best possible leaders as our candidates and we leave the rest to the wisdom of our people. And we believe that our people will make the right choice.
4.Why should people vote for PDP this time?
Answer: Our people have the right to vote for any party. We strongly believe that all political parties have their own best intentions to serve our beloved country. For us, we believe that our people deserve the best. Towards that end, we have fielded the best possible leaders for 2018.
We also believe that our party has served the nation well in the past five years. We have set foundations for our country to grow by leap and bounds. We have set the preconditions. Therefore, we believe that our people will see through their wisdom that they can trust the PDP to serve them with humility and take the nation forward.
For example, PDP’s vision is devolution of power and BKP champions clean and corruption-free elections. But is it possible?
PDP’s ideology is Wangtse Chhirpel. We stand to empower the people for liberty, equality and prosperity by devolving power and authority from the center to the people.
It has been inspired from the wisdom of our benevolent throne, who chartered the concept of democracy initially through the concept of decentralization as early as in 1981 with the establishment of the Dzongkhag Yargay Tshogchungs (DYTs).
The throne went on to consolidate it further with the establishment of the Gewog Yargay Tshogchungs (GYTs) in 1991. It went on to initiate the constitution drafting committee in 2001. All these initiatives went on to culminate in Bhutan becoming a democracy in 2008.
We believe that for Bhutan to succeed as a democratic nation, we need to draw wisdom from how our throne selflessly worked for the interest of our nation.
Taking inspiration from the throne, we aspire to empower our people with the same faith and trust through Wangtse Chhirpel. And we stand firm in our belief that our people have come of age and it is time to embrace the true spirit of democracy.
