The cabinet ministers are not in favour of swapping candidates after the primary round. In a press conference yesterday, the ministers while answering a question posed by a reporter said the morality and ethics of candidates, who swap parties after the primary round, is questionable.
Horse-trading, they said, will also lead to instability of democracy.
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…Should ECB consider fixing a ceiling/percentage beyond which a party cannot accept candidates from other parties…?”
Jigmi Y.Thinley
Prime Minister
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The cabinet ministers said though the Constitution promotes multi-party, it discourages the formation of coalition either in government or opposition. However, they said, there are loopholes which might lead to coalition indirectly violating the Constitution in a subtle way.
“If some of their candidates decide to join either of the wining party, there is no law barring them but it would call for the candidates accepting the new leadership,” said the economic minister, Khandu Wangchuk. He said the second thing is the adoption of ideology that is quite different from what he or she stood for when she first joined a particular party. “I think the electoral should look at these issues if not now then in future.”
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The works and human settlement minister, Yeshey Zimba, said the danger in the future is that people will gang up. “I think it will lead to a situation in which the faith of the political party will go. And there will be no trust and confidence in party, people will know that parties are just formed for the short time convenience and it is not very serious.”
The Prime Minister also said it is like one party separated in several entities to have access to state funding. “When the state has funded individuals/candidates to join separate party following different principles, ideologies and programs and so on, should such party/individuals not be penalised if they abandon their party for whatever reasons and join a winning army as mercenaries? Should they be made to refund perhaps, to begin with…?”
