By Syed Zarir Hussain
IANS
Thimphu : Bhutan has elected a new mock parliament that promises to preserve the nation's traditions amid looming fears of anarchy and corruption swamping the cocooned Himalayan kingdom known as the 'last Shangri-la'.
Candidates of the Druk Yellow Party that stood for "ensuring unity of the country through preservation of traditions, culture, and values" won 46 of the total 47 parliamentary seats for which dummy polls were held Monday as a dress rehearsal to the real democratic elections in 2008.
The main challenger, the Druk Red Party that promised to work towards industrial development of Bhutan, managed to win just one seat.
"The fact that the Yellow Party won 99 percent of the seats is an indicator that people in general want Bhutan to remain rooted to traditions and does not seek any industrialization," Dorji Wangchuk, a senior columnist and filmmaker, told IANS.
Authorities in the remote 'Land of the Thunder Dragon' held two rounds of dummy polls – the primary round held April 21 – in 47 constituencies to teach people how parliamentary elections work, ahead of the first parliamentary elections in 2008.
Real parliamentary elections are due to be held before June next year, the culmination of a plan by former king Jigme Singye Wangchuck – who handed his crown to his young Oxford-educated son Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in December – to change with the times and relinquish absolute rule.
Many cultural conservatives interpret the verdict of the 'dummy polls' as a big snub to the planned transition from monarchy to democracy.
"It may be a mock poll, but people used their conscience to vote for a party that stood for traditions. I would say the message is loud and clear – people still want the monarchy to continue and are not really prepared for democracy," Ugyen Sonam, a retired government official, said.
The general fear among most of the Bhutanese was that the politics and democracy would set in corruption in a land where the monarchy has been held in very high esteem. Despite people voting in the mock polls, the mood was one of scepticism.
"The excitement was definitely missing with people in general utterly confused as to what democracy would bring to the country. People are asking if politics would bring in a new era of corruption or even anarchy to Bhutan," Gopilal Acharya, the 28-year-old editor of Bhutan Times, the country's first independent weekly newspaper, told IANS.
Analysts said the results of the mock polls would give the three newly constituted political parties an idea of what they should have in their agendas while drumming up support in the real elections next year.
"This is a dress rehearsal for politicians as well. They now know what to harp on and what not in their attempt at garnering votes in the real elections in 2008," Kaka Tshering, chief editor of the Bhutan Broadcasting Service, the national TV channel, said.
In the primary round of vote last month people voted for four fictitious parties – the Druk Yellow Party, the Druk Blue Party, the Druk Green Party, and the Druk Red Party.
The Yellow Party emerged the winner with the Red coming second.
Under the new Bhutanese electoral system, voters would vote for political parties in the primary round and in the second people would vote for candidates of the two top parties that emerged victorious in the first round.
In the primary round of the mock polls, the Yellow Party won more than 50 percent of the total votes polled.
But there are optimists advocating for a change. "This is a good sign for the country and we hope democracy ushers in all round prosperity," Den Lama, a young Buddhist monk, said.