DPT, several of whose candidates have been ministers under the 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.
“It is truly amazing,” said Palden Tshering, spokesman for Thinley’s Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT).   “They have given the government to the public now,” said one octogenarian voter. “The youth must have chosen.”
The people of Bhutan shocked even themselves on Monday, as they overwhelmingly rejected a party led by the king’s uncle.
Sangay Ngedup, who is a former two-time prime minister in the old royal regime, is the brother of the four sisters and queens who are married to former king Jigme Singye Wangchuk.
He managed to get only 3 seats and even lost in his own constituency.
Heavy turnout
Polls closed on Monday in Bhutan following a landmark election to choose the country’s first democratic government, bringing an end to 100 years of absolute monarchy and making it the world’s 124th democracy.
Turnout was heavy with nearly 61 per cent of the 318,000 eligible to cast ballots having voted by early Monday afternoon, according to Deki Pema, another commission official.
Many said they were heartbroken to leave behind a century of absolute royal rule, but others are warming to the idea of democracy in the Land of the Thunder Dragon. The whole idea of democracy was promulgated by the much-loved fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who abdicated in favour of his son two years ago.
The fifth king, the 28-year-old Oxford-educated Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, urged all his people to exercise their franchise in a statement issued at the weekend, and the Bhutanese people do not ignore a royal command.
The election was contested by two parties with similar promises to boost growth and develop infrastructure, and to stick by the royal concept of prioritising Gross National Happiness (GNH) rather than GDP.