Cairns Bhutanese Community elect new leaders
Cairns Bhutanese Community (CBC) elected its new leaders of the community organization for the term 2014-16 through an election held on 22 February. Four officials and seven executive committee members were elected to work for the benefits of the community.
Tejman Rayaka, who shifted to Cairns from Germany last year, has been elected as the new president of the organization while Santa Maya Koirala has been elected as vice president. Similarly, Krishna Bhattarai and Man Singh Rai are new secretary and treasurer of the organization.
The executive committee members include Suk Rai, Narayan Mishra, Birkha Gurung, Deepak Biswa, Bhim Tamang, Milan Rana and Netra Bhattarai.
The nine-member election committee conducted the election where 98 percent of the community members attended. The commission headed by Kiran Biswa included Shekhar Pradhan, Narad Gautam, Amber Chauhan, Khadka Mishra, Manju Rai, Radhika Dahal, Tika Rizal and Sumitra Biswa.
The CBC election process followed the Australian voting process. A total of 16 people expressed interest for positions by completing nomination form after the call for expression of interest was published. Two of the nominees withdrew prior to voting day.
Of the 315 votes cast, 6 votes were declared void.
“I have seen several elections in Bhutanese communities but this election was very educative to our people. It’s the first time our people have seen this voting process learning: what is a ballot paper, how to vote, etc,” newly elected president Rayaka said.
