A new party registers amidst looming 2023 National Assembly Election

….𝒂 𝒏𝒆𝒘 𝒑𝒐𝒍𝒊𝒕𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒍 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒊𝒏 2023-𝑮𝒆𝒏𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒍 𝑨𝒔𝒔𝒆𝒎𝒃𝒍𝒚 𝒆𝒍𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒔

Choeying Dekar

Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP) after formally submitting its charter, name and symbol, membership list and other documents required by the law and being approved by the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB) on January 11, the party is registered as the 6th political parties in the country to be contesting for 2023 National Assembly Election.
Dasho Pema Chewang, President of BTP, comes with more than 30 years of experience in the civil service. He has a Masters in Development Economics.

As a young civil servant, in the early 90s he volunteered as a militia officer and served in the rank of Lieutenant with the Royal Bhutan Army.

He led the Eastern Covid-19 taskforce during the pandemic, containing the pandemic, ensuring smooth service delivery, supply of essentials and emergency movement of people during lockdowns.

Dasho Pema Chewang founded the BTP believing in his age and experience to work further closely with the people to change the existing system and institutional errors that have long existed in the public, health, and social services, facilities and other sectors .

The party says their name “Tendrel” heralds a beginning of a new era for Bhutan as BTP will remain in the centre working towards a prosperous Bhutan

Their tagline being “Your Voice, Your Hope” the party says that their tagline will emphasize on freedom of the people and their responsibilities to ensure social justice by putting themselves at the centre of development.
BTP hopes to explore more areas of opportunities for the people and to unleash their true potential and make them competent in the global market in tune with His Majesty’s vision.

For the selection of party members, BTP within themselves has a committee where they choose people not just based on their qualifications but their moral integrity and their ability to identify problems on a grassroots level and their diligence. The party claims its concept of being a “clean party” which makes them different from the other parties.
In the stint of 15 years since the constitutional democracy was launched in 2008, the country has witnessed emergence of several political parties which some of them even closed the offices over the years and their closure are attributed to sizable population and demography of the country. “Despite already having five political parties, BTP was registered as the sixth party in the country, this would offer more choices to the people,” said the president. He also added that all the political parties are products and the people should choose the best one which would benefit them and the country. With increasing numbers of parties, it would also induce healthy competition among them leading to the quality of the parties which will benefit the people with better choices.

The party is represented with an elephant as party logo or symbol which symbolizes strength, character and stability. The party claims that currently they have almost 250 registered supporters.

The party has not unveiled all its 47 candidates however, the party informed that they plan to slowly reveal their candidates over the time when the candidates visit their respective constituencies for the familiarization tour. BTP also plans to reveal some of their candidates during the national level coordinator meeting.

However, Bhutan Tendrel Party unveiled first of their 7 candidates in Punakha on January 14 after its registration as political party with Election Commission of Bhutan on January 11.

The candidates are from the following constituencies: Bartsham_Shongphu, Lingmukha_Toedwang, Bongo_Chhapcha, Tashichhoeling, North Thimphu, Sombaykha and Khatoed_Laya.

Meanwhile, Druk Thuendrel Tshogpa also declared three more candidates today, representing from Gasa, Pemagatshel and Wangduephodrang.