National Assembly of Bhutan - Current National Assembly

Current National Assembly

The current National Assembly has 47 members, who were elected in the first ever general elections on March 24, 2008. Jigme Thinley's Druk Phuensum Tshogpa Party won a landslide victory, securing 45 seats. The People's Democratic Party won the other two, but its leader Sangay Ngedup lost the election in his constituency.

Under the 2008 Constitution, the National Assembly consists of a maximum of 55 members directly elected by the citizens of constituencies within each Dzongkhag (District). (Art. 12) Under this single-winner voting system, each constituency is represented by a single National Assembly member; each of the 20 Dzongkhags must be represented by between 2–7 members. Constituencies are reapportioned every 10 years. (Art. 12, §§ 1–2) The National Assembly meets at least twice a year, and elects a Speaker and Deputy Speaker from among its members. Members and candidates are allowed to hold political party affiliation.

Read more about this topic:  National Assembly Of Bhutan

Famous quotes containing the words national assembly, current, national and/or assembly:

    Ignorance, forgetfulness, or contempt of the rights of man are the only causes of public misfortunes and of the corruption of governments.
    —French National Assembly. Declaration of the Rights of Man (drafted and discussed Aug. 1789, published Sept. 1791)

    Through this broad street, restless ever,
    Ebbs and flows a human tide,
    Wave on wave a living river;
    Wealth and fashion side by side;
    Toiler, idler, slave and master, in the same quick current glide.
    John Greenleaf Whittier (1807–1892)

    Prestige is the shadow of money and power. Where these are, there it is. Like the national market for soap or automobiles and the enlarged arena of federal power, the national cash-in area for prestige has grown, slowly being consolidated into a truly national system.
    C. Wright Mills (1916–1962)

    A man may be a heretic in the truth; and if he believe things only because his pastor says so, or the assembly so determines, without knowing other reason, though his belief be true, yet the very truth he holds becomes his heresy.
    John Milton (1608–1674)