Democracy assistance & elections news from the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS)
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Country Profile:

Upcoming Elections

  • Parliamentary
    First Round
    May 31, 2013
  • Parliamentary
    Second Round
    July 13, 2013

Bhutan

Description of government structure:

  • Chief of State: King Jigme Khesar Namgyel WANGCHUCK
  • Head of Government: Prime Minister Jigme THINLEY **
  • Assembly: Bhutan has a bicameral Parliament (Chi Tshog) consisting of the National Council (Gyelyong Tshogde) with 25 seats and the National Assembly (GyelyongTshogdu) with 47 seats.

** THINLEY is the acting Prime Minister until general elections are complete in July 2013.

Description of electoral system:

  • The King is the hereditary head of state.
  • The Prime Minister is appointed by the monarch.
  • In the National Council (Gyelyong Tshogde), 20 members are elected by majority vote in single-member constituencies to serve 5-year terms and [[uh.2.seats]] members are [[uh.2.electedby]] [[uh.2.election_type]] to serve [[uh.2.term]]-year terms*. In the National Assembly (GyelyongTshogdu) [[lh.1.seats]] members are [[lh.1.electedby]] [[lh.1.election_type]] to serve [[lh.1.term]]-year terms.**

* Members of the upper house National Council cannot belong to any political party.

** Members of the lower house National Assembly represent political parties.

Population:

  • Population: 716,896 (July 2012 )

Future elections

  • Parliamentary
    Second Round - July 13, 2013
  • Parliamentary
    First Round - May 31, 2013

Past elections

Last Updated on 05/20/2013

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