the case of Bhutan

 

In the Asian kingdom of Bhutan the king wants to establish a constitution. The population seems mainly reluctant to accept the modernisation. Democracy International investigated further and published a report about the democratisation process.

 

Download the report on Bhutan pdf - 160 kB - 9 pages

 

summary

The draft of a new constitution for the Kingdom of Bhutan appears to be a big move towards a democratic constitution, initiated by the King of Bhutan: It guarantees human and citizen rights and institutionalizes a National Assembly, as well as a National Council, elected by the people of Bhutan. Still the king keeps quite some influence on his country’s destiny.

There are some critical aspects in the constitution: It is possible to restrict human and citizen rights under certain conditions which are very vague.

The citizenship knows two classes: natural born citizens vs. citizen by registration.

The voting law favors strongly the establishment of a two party system.

There is a severe division between the Parliament, which is dominated by parties, and the National Council. Members of the latter are not allowed belonging or even having any affiliation to a party.