Today the tiny, extremely isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan staged a mock election. This sounds rather bizarre, yes, but in a country where the former king, Jigme Wangchuk, said he did not care about the Gross Domestic Product of his state (GDP) but rather the GNH or Gross National Happiness of his people it shouldn't come as much of a surprise. The pristine state has intentionally isolated itself for decades and even centuries as a means of preserving their heritage which is centered around Buddhism. This tactic of isolation goes as far as not allowing foreign visitors until very recently and even then visitors must purchase daily visit visa permits at a whopping rate of $300 a day.
The reason for the mock election is to train the people of Bhutan how a democratic system works. This mock election involves various parties who are named after the national symbol of the dragon, the parties are the blue, green red and yellow thunder dragon parties. This mock election involves high school students as candidates and the two parties that receive the highest votes will go to Thimphu for the second phase of the election.
The state has advisers from neighboring India monitoring the elections. Though we in the west are firm believers in Democracy, there in Bhutan is it really required? The country has flourished for centuries under the same type of monarchy but this will all change by 2008. The states neighbors, namely Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar (Burma) have all experienced tremendous political turmoil and have very flawed "democracies". In a state where voting is completely foreign and the status quo is very much accepted and works very well is there a need to complicate the lives of these peaceful people with the turmoil, corruption and bullshit that comes about through complicated politics? especially in that region of the world???
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/6578421.stm
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