he Druk Phuensum Tshogpa, led by former premier Jigmi Thinley, said to be popular among the elite and well educated, on Monday scored a landslide victory in the first elections in Bhutan that marks the end of absolute monarchy in the Himalayan Kingdom.
DPT, several of whose candidates have been ministers under King Jigme Khesar Namgyel and have experience in the government, made a virtual clean sweep bagging 44 out of the total 47 seats in the National Assembly.
The total voter turnout was 79.4 per cent, Chief Election Commissioner Kunzang Wangdi said.
People's Democratic Party, the only other party contesting the polls, managed to get 3 seats.
PDP is headed by Sangay Ngedup, who is a former two-time prime minister in the old royal regime and is the brother of the four sisters and queens who are married to former king Jigme Singye Wangchuk.
Electronic voting machines form India were deployed in the elections that ushered in the world's newest democracy.
Bhutan's transition to democracy actually began in 2001 when former king Jigme Singye Wangchuk handed over the powers of daily governance to a Council of Ministers.
In 2006, he abdicated the throne in favour of his Oxford-educated son Jigme Khesar Namgyel.
In the run-up to the national assembly polls, two rounds of dummy elections were held last April and May in which the Bhutanese voted for traditional values.
Bhutan elected 15 members to its National Council or Upper House of Parliament on December 31, 2007, and five others on January 29. The king will appoint five more members to the apolitical council.
Image: Bhutanese voters line up to cast their votes outside a polling station at Kabesa on the outskirts of Thimphu on Monday.
Photograph: Deshakalyan Chowdhury/AFP/Getty Images
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