National Assembly election on March 24
17 January, 2008 – Bhutan’s first general elections that will elect 47 candidates to the National Assembly will be held on March 24, the Election Commission of Bhutan announced this morning.
The National Assembly election period begins with the two political parties submitting the letter of intent, stating the list of their candidates, copy of their election manifestos, audited financial statues among others, on January 22 to the commission.The party manifestos will also be released on the same day and the election campaign will formally begin.
Filing in nomination of candidates will be done January 31 to February 7, after which candidates can start campaigning if their nomination is accepted.
While the timing for the TV debates between the party presidents has not been announced, debates between candidates in the constituencies will start from February 7.
The Druk Phuensum Tshogpa and the Peoples Democratic Party are the two parties contesting Bhutan’s first historic election.
Source: Kuensel