The world's newest democracy: Bhutan

[Verily]

Elections were today for the first Parliament in the peaceful transition from absolute monarchy to constitutional monarchy. The two contesting political parties appear at first glance to be very similar, although the winning party (the BPPP) may be slightly more to the left, or at least it campaigned on a platform of reducing the gap between rich and poor while the PDP campaigned on promoting human rights. (Really sounds like the best choice between political parties I've heard of in a long time.)

Results:
Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party: 169,940 votes, 66.99% (44 seats)
People's Democratic Party: 83,522 votes, 33.01% (3 seats)

Turnout was around 80%.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Not too dissimilar from the results in their 2007 Mock election in which the Thunder Dragon Yellow Party won 46 of the 47 districts.

[minionofmidas]

Sayeth the NY Times:

Heavy Turnout in First Bhutan Election

By SOMINI SENGUPTA
Published: March 25, 2008

NEW DELHI — Orders from the palace sent the people of Bhutan rushing to the polls for their first national elections on Monday, as the once reclusive Land of the Thunder Dragon further opened its doors and joined the world’s democracies.

While turnout was heavier than in many countries more experienced with voting — nearly 80 percent by the time polls closed at 5 p.m. — the results left some analysts wondering how democracy would actually function.

Of the 47 seats in Parliament, according to provisional results from the Election Commission of Bhutan, 44 went to Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, whose name can be translated as the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party. The rival People’s Democratic Party (English is widely spoken among the Bhutanese elite), the only other party running, lost resoundingly. Its leader, Sangay Ngedup, lost his own constituency.

There were no striking differences between the platforms of the two parties, making the vastly uneven results hard to explain. “We are all caught completely off balance at this moment,” Karma Ura, director of the Center for Bhutan Studies, a government-financed organization, said by telephone from Thimphu, the capital. “Functioning of democracy requires a good opposition. I don’t know what will happen now. It’s not an ideal situation.”

The election was a step toward democracy, but the monarchy remains in place. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 28, will remain head of state after the elections. Asked if voters understood the electoral process, the chief election commissioner, Kunzang Wangdi, said he had no doubt they did. “We have given the power to the voters to cast their secret ballot,” he said by telephone. “They have exercised that right and duty. Everyone will have to respect that.”

Bhutan’s move toward democracy began after King Jigme Singye Wangchuck handed the throne to his son, the current king, in December 2006 and ordered an end to absolute monarchy. It was the latest in a series of cautious moves to open the country up to the world. Satellite television came less than a decade ago. Tourism remains strictly controlled.

The transition to democracy, though, was not immediately met with enthusiasm. Bhutanese wondered aloud why they needed to give up palace rule, even as they took part in mock elections organized by the government last year. At the time, some Bhutanese pointed to the example of their neighbors in South Asia and said they feared corruption and mismanagement.

Buddhist Bhutan’s example stands in stark contrast to its Himalayan neighbor, Nepal, where a vocal and angry antimonarchist movement, fueled by 10 years of Maoist insurgency, has sidelined the palace and is seeking to abolish it entirely. The monarchy’s fate will be formally decided by a special assembly to be elected when Nepalese go to the polls next month.

The Bhutan elections, no matter the results, are likely to have staved off potential antimonarchist rumblings and helped the palace retain its credibility as well as influence. Bhutan is the smallest country in the region, with 600,000 citizens. It has long maintained good relations with the Indian government, pledging much of its vast hydroelectric power potential to its large, powerful, energy-hungry neighbor.

Excluded from the election were thousands of people who fled or were expelled after pro-democracy protests in 1990. Bhutan says most of them were illegal immigrants. Mostly Hindu, they have languished in refugee camps in Nepal, and some among them are expected to be resettled as refugees in the United States.

By Monday evening, results on the Election Commission of Bhutan’s Web site showed that Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, had swept the election. “In pursuit of gross national happiness” is its English-language motto, a notion coined by the elder king to refer to a path of development that combines economic indicators with respect for culture, religion and the environment. The party’s chief, Jigmi Thinley, is a former prime minister who had a hand in coming up with the gross national happiness policy.

But then again, the rival People’s Democratic Party had also pledged to follow the king’s development model, and its leader also served in the royal government. As its manifesto put it, “We the people of Bhutan have been blessed with monarchs who have put the nation’s interest above all.”

[minionofmidas]

From the election commission, at the end of the list of elected candidates...

"The overall Voter Turnout and Registered Voter information of the first
National Assembly Elections are:

1. Total Registered Voters = 318,465
2. Total Number of Votes cast = 253, 012
3. Voter Turnout = 79.4%

A total of 4 Lady Candidates were elected to the National Assembly.

Issued on the Nineteenth Day of the Second Month of the Male Earth Rat Year
corresponding to 25 March 2008."

[minionofmidas]

Constituencies were apparently quite uneven in size: http://www.election-bhutan.org.bt/NA/result.html.

[Hash]

I love Bhutan.

I read somewhere that Bhutanese don't like political instability, as in two major parties with a good number of seats.

[Meeker]

I had no idea they had transitioned. What a great country that they can peacefully move to a modern democracy just like that.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I read somewhere that Bhutanese don't like political instability, as in two major parties with a good number of seats.

So, they're like Russians?

[StateBoiler]

I had no idea they had transitioned. What a great country that they can peacefully move to a modern democracy just like that.

No, "modern democracy" would mean that the two parties are beholden to fraudsters, money, the mafia, lobbyists, self-preservation, corrupt media, mudslinging, careerism, namecalling, and bulls***.

So let us instead pray that Bhutan never becomes a modern democracy.

[minionofmidas]

I had no idea they had transitioned. What a great country that they can peacefully move to a modern democracy just like that.

No, "modern democracy" would mean that the two parties are beholden to fraudsters, money, the mafia, lobbyists, self-preservation, corrupt media, mudslinging, careerism, namecalling, and bulls***.

So let us instead pray that Bhutan never becomes a modern democracy.

I hear one candidate's wife donated a new butterlamp to his constituency's most influential monastery. not j/k.

[Kevinstat]

from Lewis's (or should I say rabbit's) last link:

Dzongkhag of Paro: Dogar-Shaba constituency:

Chencho Dorji (DPT) 3,116 votes
Chencho Dorji (PDP) 2,392 votes

Cross-nomination, or two opposing (and different) candidates of the same name?  Several Dorjis ran but no Chenchos other than Chencho Dorjis; a Chencho Dorji lost by 4 votes out of 7,288 (or 0.05%) as a Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party (DPT) candidate in the Phuntsholing constituency in the dzongkhag of Chhukha.

By the way, are family names in Bhutan last like in the U.S., or first like in Japan?  I saw some middle names and middle initials that suggested that Bhutan's equivilent of middle names are in fact in the middle.  That also suggests to me that Bhutan does names like in the U.S., otherwise it would likely be [family name] ["first" name] ["middle" name or initial] which I didn't see (although I would only see what name was the "middle" name when it was an initial, and Bhutan may have some "F. Scott" equivilents).

[minionofmidas]

By the way, are family names in Bhutan last like in the U.S., or first like in Japan?

Almost certain it's neither, and in fact more on the Indian model.

[The Hack Hater]

I don't get it. Forgive me for my ignorance of Bhutanese history, but why does the king want to make his country more democratic? It seems like they were just getting along fine  with the way they practiced for 500 years.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I don't get it. Forgive me for my ignorance of Bhutanese history, but why does the king want to make his country more democratic? It seems like they were just getting along fine  with the way they practiced for 500 years.

He doesn't want Bhutan to become another Nepal.

[StateBoiler]

I don't get it. Forgive me for my ignorance of Bhutanese history, but why does the king want to make his country more democratic? It seems like they were just getting along fine  with the way they practiced for 500 years.

He doesn't want Bhutan to become another Nepal.

Then just take away the guns from the cousins.

[Middle-aged Europe]

I don't get it. Forgive me for my ignorance of Bhutanese history, but why does the king want to make his country more democratic? It seems like they were just getting along fine  with the way they practiced for 500 years.

He doesn't want Bhutan to become another Nepal.

Then just take away the guns from the cousins.

The King of Bhutan has Maoist cousins?

[Kevin]

I don't get it. Forgive me for my ignorance of Bhutanese history, but why does the king want to make his country more democratic? It seems like they were just getting along fine  with the way they practiced for 500 years.

He doesn't want Bhutan to become another Nepal.

Then just take away the guns from the cousins.

The King of Bhutan has Maoist cousins?

No he is referring to the fact that one member of the Royal Family of Nepal went on a homicidal rampage against the family about 7 years ago.   

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Where are the maps?

[Michael Z]

I read somewhere that Bhutanese don't like political instability, as in two major parties with a good number of seats.

So, they're like Russians?

That'd be "one major party".

[StateBoiler]

I read somewhere that Bhutanese don't like political instability, as in two major parties with a good number of seats.

So, they're like Russians?

That'd be "one major party".

Yes. So the Russians would be more representative federal house districts, where the ruling powers gerrymander and restrict opposition such that only one party could ever possibly win in around 70% of the country, making elections largely pointless.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Why does BHUTAN of all places get to be basically the only country in the world where both parties have good platforms?

[The Mikado]

Why does BHUTAN of all places get to be basically the only country in the world where both parties have good platforms?

Because when you're taking your new toy democracy out for its first spin, you don't want to scruff the paint too badly. 

Seriously, though, the Bhutanese seem to be really special people. 

[Verily]

Where are the maps?

[Хahar 🤔]

They should really implement MMP or the like if they don't want a single-party dominant system.

[Verily]

Single-party dominant may not last long at all. This was their first election; the DPT may very well screw things up badly.

(I do support MMP pretty much unconditionally, however.)