Landslide election win in historic Bhutan poll
Updated
![The young king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck has spent his first years as king overseeing the democratisation of his country. [Reuters]](http://www.abc.net.au/ra/img/news/base/bhutan_king_khesar_rtr.jpg "The young king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck has spent his first years as king overseeing the democratisation of his country. [Reuters]")
The young king Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck has spent his first years as king overseeing the democratisation of his country. [Reuters]
History has been made in Bhutan with the election of the country's first democratic government.
The vote for the 47 seat national assembly brought an end to 100 years of absolute monarchy in the small Buddist kingdom, situated in the Himalayas between India and China.
Election officials say the Bhutan United Party of Jigmi Thinley, a staunch royalist, secured 44 of the seats.
He is likely to be elected the country's first prime minister.
The polls were the culmination of an initiative by Bhutan's royal family to peacefully transform the kingdom into a constitutional monarchy.
US congratulates people of Bhutan
The United States has congratulated the people of Bhutan on Monday's elections which it called "another positive step" in the Himalayan nation's transition to a democratic, constitutional monarchy.
"We congratulate the people of the Kingdom of Bhutan on the successful elections for the lower house of parliament on March 24," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.
"This event, which builds upon the historic and peaceful elections for the upper house of parliament in December 2007, marks another positive step in Bhutan's transition to a democratic, constitutional monarchy," it added.
