The People’s Democratic Party elected the Opposition Leader, Tshering Tobgay, as its President during the party’s second convention held in Thimphu today. He secured 131 votes out of 134 votes cast, using the Electronic Voting Machine. More than 150 members of PDP attended the meeting.
Officials from the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) were also present during the election to oversee the ballot.
While presenting the party status, the President said PDP has cleared-off 60 percent of its debt, amounting to Nu. 22 million. He said the remaining debt will be cleared-off before the deadline, which is June 30, 2012.
Tshering Tobgay said while some former PDP candidates have left the party, most have decided to stand for the upcoming election.
He also clarified that the former minister and the party president, Sangye Ngedup, will not be part of the Party.
Meanwhile, the PDP also presented their party ideology. The party re-submitted their party Logo, earlier designed in 2007 and rejected by the ECB. It had a picture of a horse against a yellow background. The current logo has a white background. The party decided that the executive committee members will appeal to the ECB to make changes.
The convention formally endorsed Yogesh Tamang as the interim General Secretary and Sonam Wangyal as the youth co-ordinator.
Meanwhile, Gasa MP, Damchoe Dorji says they are expecting to win the election given the tremendous support the party has received. If not, he said, they are expecting to win at least 15 seats in the parliament.
