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The People's Democratic Party (Dzongkha: མི་སེར་དམངས་གཙོའི་ཚོགས་པ།; Wylie: mi-ser dmangs-gtsoi tshogs-pa; abbr. PDP) is one of the major political parties in Bhutan, formed on 24 March 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 6 August 2007 and thus became the first political party in Bhutan to do so. On 1 September 2007 the Election Commission of Bhutan registered the party.[4] The PDP tends to be more popular in the west of the country.[5]
People's Democratic Party མི་སེར་དམངས་གཙོའི་ཚོགས་པ། | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Abbreviation | PDP |
| President | Tshering Tobgay[1] |
| Founders | Sangay Ngedup Tshering Tobgay |
| Founded | 24 March 2007 |
| Headquarters | Drizang Lam, Lower Motithang, Thimphu |
| Ideology | Royalism Liberalism[2] Progressivism[3] |
| Political position | Centre to centre-left |
| Seats in the National Assembly | 30 / 47 |
| Election symbol | |
| Galloping White Horse | |
The party presented candidates for the 2008 National Assembly election in all 47 constituencies.[6] 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.[7]
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 country's economy which has recorded a real GDP growth rate of 2%, the lowest in the recent 20 years. 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.
The party came in 3rd place in the 2018 first-round primary elections, thus losing all its seats.
Election results
editNational Assembly
edit| Election | First round | Second round | Seats | +/– | Outcome | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Votes | % | ||||
| 2008 | 83,322 | 32.96% | Cancelled | 2 / 47
|
New | Opposition | |
| 2013 | 68,650 | 32.53% | 138,760 | 54.88% | 32 / 47
|
Supermajority | |
| 2018 | 79,883 | 27.44% | Did not qualify | 0 / 47
|
Extra-parliamentary | ||
| 2023–24 | 133,217 | 42.54% | 179,652 | 54.98% | 30 / 47
|
Majority | |
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ "President - People's Democratic Party". Archived from the original on 28 July 2013. Retrieved 17 July 2013.
- ^ "Tshering Tobgay set to return as Bhutan PM after liberal PDP wins elections". Al Jazeera. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 29 August 2024.
- ^ "Bhutan and its political parties". European Parliamentary Research Service. 27 November 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
- ^ Election Commission of Bhutan website -PDP Archived 4 March 2008 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Why PDP lost, DNT won and DPT held on". The Bhutanese. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
- ^ The meeting of the candidates Archived 27 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Bhutan votes for status quo" Archived 29 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine, France 24, 24 March 2008.