ECB has started preparing for the third parliamentary elections to be held in 2018.

The National Council will complete its term in May 2018, while the National Assembly will dissolve in August. Assuming that the prime minister does not dissolve the Assembly prematurely, elections could be held in late October 2018.

In the case of the Council, however, elections could be held before May 2018 so that the third National Council starts its term as soon as the current Council members complete their term. This is because the Council is a “continuous House”.

ECB said that it has already issued public advisories to avoid the time periods of February to May 2018 and August to October 2018 for any programmes and activities that involve public gathering. Also, ECB has advised all prospective contestants that census be transferred in the constituency of their choice.

ECB stated that it has advised all those interested to contest the elections on ensuring mitsi (census registration) in constituency of their choice.

According to ECB, all 20 dzongkhags are also finalising the customised strategy for each dzongkhag focusing in particular on voter turnout, which was the theme of the “fifth Biennial ECB Conference” as well as the stakeholder’s discussion forum for Successful Third Parliamentary Elections 2018 held recently at Paro.

After the successful conduct of the second local government elections 2016, ECB conducted “The Learning from Experience Programme” of local government elections 2016 with various stakeholders including the media and received their feedbacks and recommendations based on the actual experience. This was done to enhance and improve the electoral process, ECB said.

Source: Kuensel Online dated July 13, 2017 (http://www.kuenselonline.com/ecb-prepares-for-2018-elections/)