It was unusually a long wait for the people as vote counting for the Local Government Elections ran late into the night. This delayed the provisional result declaration and left the voters frustrated across the country.
The polling stations closed at four in the evening. But even after six hours, the results were not ready. As is the practice, the media houses usually declare the provisional results on the same day.
The Returning Officers of the respective polling stations give away the information to the media. However, the vote counting went on until one this morning.
“We were eagerly waiting for the results yesterday. However, it was not declared at 10 PM also. We have no idea why the results were delayed. We are even doubting the system,” said Dago, a resident of Sergithang Gewog in Tsirang.
“People say technology has come a long way but I don’t understand why they delayed the results. The voting closed at 4 PM and we thought by 6PM they will declare the results. We were so excited to know the results,” said Soena, a resident of Khatoed Gewog in Gasa.
“Some of the results were declared early but I heard that ours was declared only at around 1AM. I waited till 9:30PM and then I slept,” said Sherub Wangmo, a resident of Lango Gewog in Paro.
“In the past, the results were usually out by 4PM. But yesterday, the results were declared late. Now I doubt what happened last night. We were so eager to know about the results,” said Dechen Lhendrup, a resident of Kanglung Gewog.
“It doesn’t matter who wins because they will be serving the people and country after all. Regarding the delay in result declaration, I am not sure if it’s BBS or ECB’s fault,” said Tshering, another resident of Kanglung Gewog.
But the Election Commission said as per their notification issued in October, the results were to be announced the next day, 23rd December. The provisional results from ten districts were declared yesterday while the remaining was declared today.
Pema Seldon Tshering/Kinley Dem
Edited by Sonam Pem
