candidates nor leaders belonging to any party or interest group. For the first time, these institutions enabled people to directly participate in local governance by way of planning local development programmes, gaining financial authority and implementing and maintaining development projects. It was, in many ways a preparatory launch pad for active citizens' participation in parliamentary democracy. In other words, it provided a platform for simulating democracy. In 2002, nationwide elections—based on universal adult franchise and secret ballot—were held for offices of 199 of the 201 local government positions. An important point to note is that the State's introduction of democratic institutions and practices then were more in village societies than in the state apparatus itself. Periodic elections and representative assemblies were part of village life. In 1998 the democratisation of the State was initiated when the king dissolved the long standing cabinet, devolved his executive powers to a council of ministers elected by the National Assembly and pushed for a clause whereby a motion of no-confidence can be registered against the king if 2/3 of the assembly members support it. This voluntary devolution of power—with the king as merely the head of State—accelerated the process of democratisation. Then in December 2001, he commanded the drafting of a constitution. The chief justice led a committee consisting of representatives from all sections of the society to draft the constitution. After the draft was submitted in August 2005, the king and the crown prince travelled throughout the country to discuss the provisions of the constitution with the people. The popular mood was that there was no compulsion whatsoever to introduce parliamentary democracy when the kingdom was prospering under the leadership of successive monarchs. In his national address on 17 December 2005, the king said, “During my consultations on the Constitution [sic] in the different dzongkhags [districts], the main concern of the people is that it is too early to introduce parliamentary democracy in Bhutan.” He announced his intention to abdicate and pass on the responsibility to usher in parliamentary democracy to the crown prince (as the fifth king), saying it was necessary for a king to gain as much experience as possible to serve his country to his fullest capacity. While the Bhutanese people thought that the voluntary abdication would take place in 2007, the king surprised everyone by doing it a year earlier. His Majesty Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck ascended the throne on 15 December 2006, although the formal coronation is to be held in 2008. In his national day address to the nation two days later, he said, “Henceforth, our responsibilities will always be first and foremost, the peace and tranquility of the nation; the sovereignty and security of our country; fulfilling the vision of Gross National Happiness and; the strengthening of this new system of democracy.” The democratisation process began at two levels; first, democratic institutions and practices were established and consolidated in village societies. In the beginning, the State itself experimented with modest separation of powers between its three organs of the judiciary, legislature and the executive. Once democratisation of village societies was fairly achieved, the State was ready to democratise itself, and began the
37
process in 1998. In making this argument, I re-examine the claims of Wangchuk (2004) that village societies are democratic but the State is not. My contention is that in the two-fold democratisation process, the village was given primacy over the State. If Bhutan's democratisation had taken place in village societies with no democratic institutions and practices at all, the possibilities of its successes would not have been as good as we see it today. Parliamentary Elections 2008 Private Media Till 2006, media was largely state-owned. Kuensel, the national newspaper, was granted autonomy and formally delinked from the government in 1992 by a royal charter. However, the government continues to own the majority of its shares and the board of directors governing it—including the editor-in-chief—are mostly civil servants. Television and internet were introduced in 1999 during the coronation silver jubilee celebrations. In preparation for parliamentary democracy, the introduction of private media was encouraged and in a few months, two private newspapers and radio stations were launched. They have become instrumental in keeping the debates and discussions alive, and have reported on the process of democratisation as a serious part of their profession. The European Union Election Observation Mission lauded the private print media for its critical coverage of the elections. The government owned print and broadcast media were reported as being generally positive. The Mock Elections In order to move towards parliamentary democracy, the fourth king had commanded that electoral practice sessions be conducted in the all the 20 districts. Hence, the Election Commission conducted two rounds of mock elections. Before the actual mock elections, a simulation “mock election” was held involving trainees of the Paro College of Education. Mock political parties were formed, every party had a chosen symbol and the trainees of the institute simulated as the electorate. Candidates campaigned soliciting votes based on their manifestos. Party supporters and candidates enacted rallies carrying banners and shouting slogans. Then the trainees went to the polls. The proceeding of the mock election were video-filmed for mass circulation. The educational material included demonstrations on the use of electronic voting machines (EVMs). At the same time, series of election-related musical videos were also produced, encouraging people to participate in the elections and to make new citizenship identity cards in place of the old ones. Once the new cards were made, people were issued voter photo identity cards (VPICs), which are required to be able to vote. Along with the audio-visual materials, a host of print materials were also published and circulated to create awareness concerning the elections. When the video footage of the simulated mock elections was broadcast on television, there were strong reactions from people who thought that electioneering using loudspeakers and banners with people marching was not suited for public mobilisation in Bhutan. Till recently, the Bhutanese people had only seen such images on television screens when elections were held in neighbouring countries. In fact, the
38