The urban influence on voters
Thimphu: What exactly transpired in the two days leading up to the election? Did civil servants and educated urbanites actually influence rural voters as maintained by PDP supporters?
The PDP president, Sangay Ngedup, has said that they were confident of people’s support until 21 March. There was a mood swing in the intervening two days as buses, trucks and cars bearing urban voters hit towns and villages.
If the postal ballot is any indication, the educated vote was largely in favour of the DPT. Of 17,119 postal ballots cast, only 3,799 voted for the PDP while 13,320 voted for the DPT. These included civil servants, students, armed forces, diplomats, their spouses and dependants, officials on election duty, hoteliers, media persons and tour operators.
There are more than 18,000 civil servants, about 9,000 corporate employees and more than 30,000 private employees. This translates into more than 39,000 people actually going to their constituencies to vote. On 22, 23 and 24 March, the Thimphu-Paro highway was the busiest with 1,237 vehicles while on other days there are less than 100 vehicles. The Thimphu-Phuenstholing highway saw 477 vehicles and the Thimphu-Haa highway 181.
The frequency of B-Mobile calls in the three days before the election also shot up by 30 percent. Do all these factors indicate that rural voters were influenced?
The PDP Secretary, Lam Kezang, said that he had received many calls and faxes from party supporters alleging that urban dwellers had influenced rural voters. “The reports, however, are not concrete,” he said.
PDP’s Kaka Tshering from Paro said that the general feeling among the party was that urban dweller had influenced the voters. “Some miraculous thing has happened but we don’t know who is behind it,” he said.
Jigme Cholen from Trshignag said that every village in his constituency had assured him of their support but in touch with people who weren’t living in the villages and I think those people must have voted for the other party,” he said.
Chhungdu Tshering from Samtse said they gave more attention to the rural voters thinking that most of the educated lot will avail the postal ballot facility. In the end when the educated lot turned up to vote, it was too late as the campaigning period was over.
Urban dwellers started influencing the villagers who believed them. “I am still getting reports on this,” he said.
The DPT Secretary, Thinley Gyamtsho, believes the voters had made their decision ahead of the arrival of the urban dwellers. “The voters might have been swayed in small ways but not to a large extent. We already had strong network of supporters,” he said.
Influence or not, the Chief Election Commissioner, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, said that as long as the law was not violated and people are not forced to go against their will, everyone can enjoy their democratic and fundamental rights. Urban dwellers calling up their families in the villages and telling them to vote for a political party cannot be considered illegal as long as people are not coerced to do so.
