The National Assembly is the elected lower house of Bhutan’s bicameral Parliament which also comprises the Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King) and the National Council (upper house).
Current National Assembly
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The current National Assembly has 47 members, first elected in the inaugural general election on March 24, 2008. Jigme Thinley’s Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) Party won a landslide victory, securing 45 seats. The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) won the other two, but its leader, Sangay Ngedup, lost the election in his constituency.
Under the 2008 Constitution, Article 12, section 1, the National Assembly consists of a maximum of 55 members directly elected by the citizens of constituencies within each Dzongkhag (District). Under this single-winner voting system, each constituency is represented by a single National Assembly member; each of the 20 Dzongkhags must be represented by between 2–7 members. Constituencies are reapportioned every 10 years (Art. 12, § 2). The National Assembly meets at least twice a year (Art. 12, § 5), and elects a Speaker and Deputy Speaker from among its members (Art. 12, § 3). Members and candidates are allowed to hold political party affiliation.
The 2013 National Assembly election resulted in large increase in percentage of PDP members, who held 32 seats to the DPT’s 15 when the new assembly was convened.
In the 2018 National Assembly election, PDP did not qualify for the elections. DNT saw a rise of 30 seats, thus becoming the majority party in the Assembly. DPT, which won 17 seats, became the opposition.
In the 2023–24 Bhutanese National Assembly election, both incumbent parliamentary parties failed to win seats. PDP returned as the majority party, while the new BTP became the opposition.
History
The National Assembly was originally decreed in 1953 by King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck. The National Assembly began as a unicameral parliament within the King’s framework for democratization. In 1971, King Jigme Dorji empowered the National Assembly to remove him or any of his successors with a two-thirds majority. The procedure for abdication remains a part of Bhutan’s Constitution of 2008, with the addition of a three-fourths majority in a joint sitting of Parliament (i.e., including the National Council) to confirm the involuntary abdication as well as a national referendum to finalize it.
Electoral system
The 47 members of the National Assembly are elected from single-member constituencies. Primary elections are held in which voters cast votes for parties. The top two parties are then able to field candidates in the main round of voting, in which members are elected using first-past-the-post voting.
Gyelyong Tshokhang, Thimphu, Bhutan
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