Bhutan holds its first democratic elections, beginning a peaceful transition to constitutional monarchy

Story: 2007 C.E.  |  Last updated: April 21, 2007

In the spring of 2007 C.E., a small Himalayan kingdom tucked between India and China did something that surprised much of the world: it began practicing democracy — not because its people had demanded it, but because its king asked them to. On April 21, 2007 C.E., Bhutan held a mock election using fictional political parties, inviting its citizens to learn how to cast a ballot before the real votes began. It was, by any measure, one of the more unusual entries in the history of democratic elections.

What the evidence shows

• Bhutan democratic elections: The process began with a mock vote on April 21, 2007 C.E., using four fictional parties named after colors — Druk Blue, Druk Green, Druk Red, and Druk Yellow — to familiarize citizens with the process before real balloting started.
• National Council vote: Bhutan’s first actual democratic election took place on December 31, 2007 C.E., when 312,817 eligible voters chose 20 members of the National Council, the upper house of a new bicameral parliament, across 20 administrative districts.
• Constitutional transition: The elections were part of a decades-long reform process initiated by Bhutan’s monarchs themselves — a rare case in which a ruling royal family voluntarily transferred power to an elected government, culminating in the Constitution of 2008 C.E.

A democracy designed from the top down

Most democratic transitions involve some form of public pressure — protests, elections forced by crisis, or international intervention. Bhutan’s path was different.

The groundwork was laid by the Third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, who established a 130-member National Assembly in 1952 C.E. to introduce a more participatory form of governance. In 1958 C.E., he abolished slavery — a foundational legal reform that signaled the direction of travel. His successor, the Fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, went further: he drafted a democratic constitution and put in place procedures that could force a king to abdicate, then abdicated himself in December 2006 C.E. to make way for the transition.

The Fifth King, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, oversaw the enactment of the Constitution of Bhutan in 2008 C.E., which formally established the constitutional monarchy. He has reigned as head of state since, but without absolute power.

How the elections unfolded

The mock election in April 2007 C.E. drew genuine engagement. A runoff between Druk Yellow and Druk Red — the two leading fictional parties — was held on May 28, 2007 C.E., with randomly selected high school students serving as candidates. Druk Yellow swept 46 of 47 constituencies. Turnout in that second round reached 66%.

The real National Council election on December 31, 2007 C.E. followed a similar structure: voters chose from candidates in their dzongkhags, or administrative districts, with the king nominating five additional members. In five districts where too few candidates had filed, elections were delayed to January 29, 2008 C.E.

Then came the first partisan National Assembly election on March 24, 2008 C.E. Two registered parties competed: the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party (DPT) and the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Turnout reached nearly 80%, and the DPT won 44 of 47 seats — a landslide that raised questions about the robustness of parliamentary opposition, but also demonstrated that Bhutanese voters were willing to participate.

By 2011 C.E., local elections at the dzongkhag, gewog, and thromde levels had completed the picture. All levels of government in Bhutan were now democratically elected.

The role of the Dorji family and cross-border ties

Bhutan’s democratic opening did not happen in isolation. The country’s political evolution has been shaped by a web of relationships — with India, with Tibet, and with the influential Dorji family, whose members had long served as intermediaries between the royal court and the outside world.

It was the Dorji family that helped open Bhutan to foreign ties in the 20th century C.E., and it was the sister of Prime Minister Jigme Dorji who married the Third King, weaving reform-minded and royal interests together. The 1949 C.E. Treaty of Peace and Friendship with India — the first international agreement to unambiguously recognize Bhutan’s sovereignty — created a geopolitical framework within which domestic reform became possible. Bhutan could modernize on its own terms, guided but not controlled by its larger neighbor.

According to V-Dem Democracy indices, Bhutan ranked 13th most electorally democratic country in Asia as of 2023 C.E., with a score of 0.535 out of 1 — a credible showing for a country that held its first election less than two decades earlier.

Lasting impact

Bhutan’s democratic transition offered something rare: a model of voluntary, monarchically led democratization. In a world where power is rarely surrendered without a fight, the Bhutanese case raised genuinely interesting questions about how political change can happen — and who can drive it.

The country’s guiding philosophy of Gross National Happiness, which both major parties in 2008 C.E. pledged to pursue, positioned Bhutan’s democracy as something more than a procedural exercise. It framed political participation as inseparable from well-being, environmental stewardship, and cultural continuity — a framing that has attracted interest from development economists and governance scholars worldwide.

The elections also mattered practically. Democratic local governments at the gewog and thromde levels brought decision-making closer to rural communities in a country where geography makes centralized governance difficult. Voter participation, even in the lower-turnout 2011 C.E. local elections, showed that Bhutanese citizens were willing to engage with the new system.

Blindspots and limits

Bhutan’s democratic story carries a significant shadow. During the 1990s C.E., tens of thousands of Lhotshampa — ethnic Nepali Bhutanese — were expelled or fled the country amid discriminatory citizenship laws and forced cultural assimilation policies introduced under the Fourth King. The subject remains largely taboo in Bhutanese politics, and many refugees spent decades in camps in Nepal before third-country resettlement. The democratic constitution and elections that followed did not resolve their status, and the exclusion of a significant ethnic minority from the democratic project is a real and unresolved part of this history. Democracy, in Bhutan as elsewhere, has not always meant inclusion for everyone within its borders.

Read more

For more on this story, see: Bhutanese democracy — Wikipedia

For more from Good News for Humankind, see:

• Indigenous communities win recognition for 160 million hectares of land at COP30
• Global suicide rate has fallen by 40% since 1995
• The Good News for Humankind archive on Bhutan

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