Essential - The CNE should define new polling station locations and begin an information campaign in advance of the next voter registration update. Voters should be informed that they will have to vote where they are registered at the next election and to check and amend their registration location during the update.
Addressed to - CNE & CIPE.
Possible Improvements Suggested - The update period may have to be extended to cater for demand.
Timeline - In next six months.

Essential - Ensure that all procedural safeguards against electoral fraud are in place such as use of voter register, use of a supplementary voter register, systematic checking of voters’ fingers for ink, and reconciliation of the ballots.
Addressed to - CNE.
Possible Improvements Suggested:
- Elaborate procedures for pre and post election activities for GMEs and CPEs.
- Revise the election day procedures manual with more detail and ensure that Polling station staff understand the reasons for the different checks.
- Revise the protocols to include spaces to enter number of ballot box seals, number of ballots received and a supplementary voter register.
- Shorten the cascade for training of polling station staff to ensure that trainers fully understand the information.
- If electronic means such as PDAs or swipe machines are used instead of a voter list, these should be available at each polling station and linked to the central database to ensure voters only vote once. They should calculate the number of people who have voted at that polling station to facilitate the reconciliation process after closing.
Timeline - Procedures should all be determined at least three months prior to next elections.

Essential - The number of polling stations (Mesas de Voto) should be reduced to enable more efficient organisation and easier identification of where a voter should go to vote.
Addressed to - CNE.
Possible Improvements Suggested:
- Between 700 and 1000 voters per polling station in urban areas is a guideline but may be less in rural areas.
- Polling stations should be located in schools and public buildings where possible, rather than in tents, to enable people to locate their polling stations more easily, provide an area for posting the results, give a more orderly environment for voting and access to electricity for the counting.
Timeline - Procedures should all be determined at least three months prior to next elections.

Essential - Review media law to implement a fair licensing system for private radio stations to allow for nationwide broadcasting and improve access to information form different sources for the population.
Addressed to - Gov.; NationalAssembly; CNCS; Media.
Possible Improvements Suggested:
- Organisation and broadcasting of debates between contestants in the media, especially on national radio and TV during the campaign period to provide the electorate with greater information and comparison between the political choices available.
- Actions intended to limit freedom of expression and freedom of the press to be avoided in order to guarantee basic human rights, international democratic standards and avoid self censorship practises among Angolan media and journalists.
Timeline - WIthin next year.

Essential - The CNCS to take a more proactive role in sanctioning the press, especially over the campaign period, to ensure objectivity and independence of and media. The electoral administration should also reinforce its role in the same regard.
Addressed to - Gov.; NationalAssembly; CNCS; Media.
Possible Improvements Suggested:
- Ammend the Law on the National Council for Social Communication (Lei sobre o Conselho Nacional de Comunicação Social 7/92) to confer sanctioning powers on the CNCS.
- A media monitoring unit should be established within the CNCS to monitor coverage of the election campaign. Methodological support could be requested from international organisations.
Timeline - Within next year.

Desirable - Civil society organisations should be encouraged to continue their programs of civic education to encourage more open political debate, political tolerance and greater understanding of the democratic process, particularly focusing on rural areas.
Addressed to - CNE; NGOs.
Possible Improvements Suggested:
- Civic education agents should be given refresher training prior to the next election. They would also benefit from spot visits from trainers and on the job training where possible.
Timeline - To start within six months.

Essential - State funding for political contestants to be provided immediately after the contestants have been accepted by the TC.
Addressed to - Gov. & NEC & Political Parties.
Possible Improvements Suggested:
- The CNE should provide guidance notes to all political contestants on how to present their candidacies and receive funding once accepted, so as to avoid the large number of disqualifications and lack of preparedness of many of the political contestants evidenced in this election.
- Political Parties should elicit training in political marketing possibly with assistance from homologous political parties in other countries or political marketing consultants
- Political parties should establish regular liaison with civil society organizations to listen to their concerns and local issues.
Timeline - To start within six months.

Desirable - Political contestants should involve their provincial candidates in campaigning and debates in their home constituency during the campaign to increase voter awareness of their future representatives.
Addressed to - Gov. & NEC & Political Parties.
Possible Improvements Suggested - Training should cover voting and counting proceedings, the importance of official complaints and how to file them, and obtaining a copy of the results protocol.
Timeline - To start within six months.

Essential - The Election Law and its Regulation should detail the time frame in which decisions on complaints by the election administrative bodies (municipal, provincial and national) have to be taken.
Addressed to - Gov. & NEC.
Possible Improvements Suggested - The introduction of a system for recording and tracking of complaints at municipal, provincial and national level to allow for easy follow up of the treatment of complaints by interested parties.
Timeline - To start within six months.

Essential - The ruling party should cease to use state resources to its benefit during the campaign.
Addressed to - Gov.
Possible Improvements Suggested - Correcting measures should include not giving holidays to government employees to attend party events and a moratorium on inaugurating new projects during the campaign period.
Timeline - To start over the next six months.

Desirable - The CNE should develop a gender policy to improve the recruitment and participations of women in the election management bodies, particularly in polling station staff.
Addressed to - CNE.
Timeline - Over next four years.

Consideration should be given to establishing the EDSB as an autonomous body inside the ECB, with additional staff allocated exclusively for this purpose. Public information campaign on complaint rights should be conducted prior to elections. The burden of proof should rest with complainants; this measure will minimize baseless complaints.

Relevant legislation should be amended to specify the respective roles of the Anti-Corruption Commission and the EDSB for handling of election-related complaints.

Consideration should be given to raising the campaign spending limits for National Assembly candidates. Limits could also be linked to the number of voters in a constituency.

The international community should consider providing study visits for ECB staff on particular technical issues of interest (e.g. campaign finance, voter registration, voter education, comparative electoral systems, boundary delimitation, etc).

The EDSB should make all decisions on complaints accessible to the public, for instance through the Internet.

The ECB should expand and improve its website so that it has the capacity to make all notifications, announcements and decisions available to the public. The website acts as a key instrument for ensuring transparency of the ECB.

The ECB should ensure that Returning Officers are adequately resourced, including convenient access to high-speed Internet facilities where possible.

The legal exclusion of members of religious communities from the right to vote should be reviewed. Such individuals and communities should be permitted to decide for themselves whether to participate in the election process.

Voter education efforts on postal ballots should be continued in order to reduce the high number of rejected applications and invalid ballots.

The exclusion of those married to non-citizens from candidacy to the National Assembly is unreasonable and should be removed. Other disqualifications should be reviewed and should not be on a permanent basis.

Provisions for registration of political parties should be revised so that all qualification and disqualification criteria are objective and measurable. A pluralism of views among parties should be encouraged so as to offer the voters a broader political choice.

The lack of active civil society organizations is of concern. Organizations active in the field of gender equal opportunity and women’s participation in politics should be promoted and supported.

Media will play an important role during the coming years as a watchdog of the government and other state institutions. Financial and technical assistance is needed for the media to further develop the democratic change in Bhutan.

The freshness and lack of professionalism of many journalists is a cause of major concern, support for qualified media representatives training should be envisaged in order to stimulate a more lively and critical debate in the media, both state owned and private.