People's Democratic Party (Bhutan)
The People's Democratic Party (Dzongkha: མི་སེར་དམངས་གཙོའི་ཚོགས་པ་; Wylie: mi-ser dmangs-gtsoi tshogs-pa; abbreviated PDP) is one of the major political parties in Bhutan, formed on March 24, 2007. The founder president of this party is Sangay Ngedup, the former prime minister and agriculture minister of the Royal Government of Bhutan. The current leader of the party is Tshering Tobgay. The People's Democratic Party submitted its application for registration on August 6, 2007 and thus became the first political party in Bhutan to do so. On September 1, 2007 the Election Commission of Bhutan registered the party.[3] The party presented candidates for the 2008 National Assembly election in all 47 constituencies.[4]
People's Democratic Party མི་སེར་དམངས་གཙོའི་ཚོགས་པ་ | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | PDP |
President | Tshering Tobgay[1] |
Founded | 24 March 2007 |
Headquarters | Drizang Lam, Lower Motithang, Thimphu |
Ideology | Royalism Liberalism Progressivism[2] |
Political position | Centre to centre-left |
Seats in the National Assembly | 0 / 47 |
Election symbol | |
Galloping White Horse | |
The party won only two of the National Assembly's 47 seats, and just under one third of the votes cast. The only other party that registered for the election, the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party, gained 45 seats and just over two thirds of the votes. The People's Democratic Party's president, Sangay Ngedup, failed to win the seat in his own constituency.[5]
In the 2013 elections, the party won 32 seats with 54.88% of the votes.
PDP's election victory is attributed to its comprehensive campaign promises. The campaign promise focused on improving the economy which has recorded a GDP growth rate of 2%, the lowest in the recent 20 years. The confidence in the economy was at its weakest with rupee shortages, raising debt, loans being stopped by financial institutions and corruption having become a major concern.
Notes
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-07-28. Retrieved 2013-07-17.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "Bhutan and its political parties". European Parliamentary Research Service. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
- Election Commission of Bhutan website -PDP Archived 2008-03-04 at the Wayback Machine
- The meeting of the candidates Archived 2007-12-27 at the Wayback Machine
- "Bhutan votes for status quo" Archived 2011-04-29 at the Wayback Machine, France 24, March 24, 2008