The monarch is head of state and formally appoints a number of high officials, but generally exercises his powers on the advice of the elected prime minister, in keeping with the 2008 constitution; the king’s remaining influence over executive matters is very modest in practice. King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck succeeded his father in 2006, and his coronation was held in 2008.

The king nominates the leader of the majority party in the elected National Assembly to serve as prime minister. After the PDP won free and fair National Assembly elections in January 2024, its leader, former Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay (2013–18), returned to the premiership later in the month.

Score Change: The score improved from 3 to 4 because a new prime minister was chosen on the basis of free and fair National Assembly elections, further consolidating the primacy of elected officials in Bhutan’s constitutional system.

The constitution provides for a bicameral Parliament, with a 25-seat upper house, the National Council, and a 47-seat lower house, the National Assembly. Members of both houses serve five-year terms. The king appoints five members of the nonpartisan National Council, and the remaining 20 are popularly elected. The National Assembly is entirely elected; voting is held in two rounds, with the two parties that win the most support in the first round advancing to the second.

The most recent National Council elections, in April 2023, were the first to be held under a 2022 law that required candidates for all elections to file documents verifying that they meet certain professional and anticorruption standards.

In the November 2023 first round of the National Assembly elections, the PDP received the most votes in a field of five parties, followed by the Bhutan Tendrel Party (BTP), a newer party established in 2022. The outgoing ruling party, the United Party of Bhutan (DNT), placed fourth and did not move on to the second round. In January 2024, the PDP won 30 of the 47 seats in the second-round vote, and the BTP won the remaining 17. The elections were generally regarded as free and fair, with few reported irregularities.

Elections are administered by the Election Commission of Bhutan (ECB), which is generally considered to be impartial. However, for the 2023 and 2024 legislative elections, the ECB reduced the number of polling stations, staffing, and facilities for postal balloting, citing economic constraints. Government employees and students retained access to postal balloting, drawing complaints from private-sector workers.

Citizens must receive government approval to form political parties, but multiple parties have been able to form and compete in practice. The recently formed BTP placed second in the 2024 National Assembly elections, and the incumbent DNT failed to advance to the second round, demonstrating considerable turnover in the party system.

Opposition parties have a robust opportunity to enter government through elections. Bhutan has undergone three peaceful transfers of power between rival parties under the 2008 constitution, following the National Assembly elections in 2013, 2018, and 2023–24.

While voters and politicians are generally free from undue interference in their political choices, the Indian government retains some influence. The Chinese government does not have a formal diplomatic relationship with Thimphu but has courted Bhutanese leaders and worked to gain control of Bhutanese territory.

Electoral rules stipulate that political parties must not be limited to members of any regional, ethnic, or religious group. Citizenship rules are strict, and many Nepali-speaking people have not attained citizenship, leaving them disenfranchised.

Women are underrepresented in public office; traditional customs inhibit women’s political participation, though electoral reforms introduced for the 2018 elections improved turnout among women voters. While the total number of women candidates in the first round of the 2023–24 National Assembly elections increased compared with 2018, the percentage of women who ran was down compared with prior elections, and only two women won seats. Same-sex sexual relations were decriminalized in 2021, but social stigma remains an obstacle to political engagement and advocacy by LGBT+ people.

Since the enactment of the 2008 constitution, Bhutan has made a successful transition from a system in which the monarch dominated governance to one in which policies and legislation are generally determined by elected officials. This transition was reinforced by the formation of a new government after the 2023–24 elections.

The Indian government exerts significant influence on Bhutanese policymaking, in part by supplying considerable foreign aid and through political links. At the same time, Beijing has obstructed the Bhutanese government’s control over some outer regions of its territory; Chinese forces have constructed villages, military outposts, and infrastructure inside Bhutan since 2015 and have ramped up their incursions in recent years. Despite these pressures, Bhutanese leaders have maintained autonomous foreign and domestic policies, seeking to build stable relationships with both Beijing and New Delhi while protecting the kingdom’s independence.

Score Change: The score improved from 2 to 3 because freely elected Bhutanese officials have generally maintained control over policymaking despite competing pressures from the Indian and Chinese governments in recent years.

The government generally enforces anticorruption laws effectively. The 2006 Anti-Corruption Act established whistleblower protections. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is tasked with investigating and preventing graft and has successfully prosecuted several high-profile cases.

The government has strengthened transparency by making the salaries of officials public and making the central and local budgets more open to review. Journalists cite strict rules governing information-sharing by civil servants and other government personnel as a significant obstacle to transparency, and there is no law guaranteeing the public’s right to information.

While there are multiple private media outlets, many depend on advertising from state bodies, and the media environment remains subject to self-censorship. Powerful individuals can use defamation laws to retaliate against critics.

The Bhutan Information Communications and Media Act 2018 mandated the establishment of an independent Media Council, which became operational in 2019, to monitor the media for harmful content. Despite initial fears that the body would encourage further self-censorship, no reports of this have emerged.

The constitution protects freedom of religion, but local authorities are known to harass non-Buddhists. Christian churches have often been unable to obtain registration from the government, which places constraints on their activities.

Few restrictions on academic freedom have been reported. However, Bhutanese university students are sometimes hesitant to speak out on controversial political issues and practice self-censorship.

Freedom of expression is constitutionally guaranteed and generally respected. Under the country’s National Security Act, speech that creates or attempts to create “hatred and disaffection among the people” or “misunderstanding or hostility between the government and people,” among other offenses, can be punished with imprisonment, but the law has not been used to restrict personal expression in recent years.

The constitution guarantees freedom of assembly, but this right is sometimes limited by government-imposed restrictions. For example, the government has made it challenging for some civil society organizations to assemble if they did not obtain permission from the Civil Society Organizations Authority.

Local and international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are able to work on a wide range of issues, though activism related to the rights of ethnic Nepalis is reportedly subject to restrictions. Under the 2007 Civil Society Organizations Act, all new NGOs must register with the government. Registration is granted to those that are determined by the government to be “not harmful to the peace and unity of the country.” A 2022 law imposes financial burdens on NGOs by requiring them to establish endowment funds and operational reserves.

The laws protect the right to create and join independent unions, and to bargain collectively with employers. While antiunion discrimination is prohibited, the right to strike is not specifically protected. Most Bhutanese work informally in the agricultural sector and do not belong to unions. There have been no reports of major restrictions on organized labor in recent years.

Score Change: The score improved from 1 to 2 because although the legal framework does not explicitly protect the right to strike, there have been no reports of major restrictions on labor union activity in recent years.

The independence of the judiciary is largely respected. Senior judges are appointed by the king on the recommendation of the National Judicial Commission, half of whose members are themselves the country’s top-ranked judges. Potential executive interference and judicial corruption remain concerns. In 2023, Attorney General Lungten Dubgyur was removed from office by the prime minister after a commission found that he had interfered in a High Court decision regarding a drug case.

Although the right to a fair trial is largely guaranteed, and arbitrary arrest is not a widespread problem, plaintiffs and defendants in civil disputes often represent themselves.

A number of political prisoners who were detained before Bhutan transitioned to its current democratic system remain behind bars. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), as of July 2024, Bhutan was holding at least 34 political prisoners who had been detained between 1990 and 2010. The majority belonged to the Nepali-speaking community, were convicted under the vaguely worded National Security Act of 1992, and were subjected to harsh conditions in prison.

The civilian police force generally operates within the law, and incidents of excessive force are rare. Crime rates have been low and have declined over time. According to the latest available police statistics, there were about 2,610 criminal incidents in 2023, down from more than 4,000 in 2019. There have been no recent reports of significant cross-border violence by insurgents from the Indian state of Assam.

Score Change: The score improved from 2 to 3 because both crime rates and the threat of cross-border violence from Assamese militants have gradually declined.

The constitution protects against discrimination based on sex, race, disability, language, religion, or societal status. However, Nepali-speaking people reportedly face employment discrimination and many forms of bias.

LGBT+ people experience some societal discrimination and stigma. There are no legal protections for transgender people. In late 2020, both houses of Parliament completed a final vote to repeal legal provisions that criminalized same-sex sexual activity, and the king gave his assent in February 2021.

Discrimination in employment and education persists for women.

Bhutanese citizens generally have the freedom to travel domestically and internationally. However, the government has established different categories of citizenship, which restricts foreign travel for some. These restrictions reportedly have the greatest effect on Nepali speakers.

Individuals generally have rights to own property and establish businesses. The process of registering property or a new business can be cumbersome, though practical obstacles have been reduced over time. Some ethnic Nepalis who lack a security clearance certificate still face difficulties in starting a business.

There are few significant restrictions on individual freedom regarding personal status issues such as marriage and divorce, though same-sex marriage is not recognized. Marriage before age 18 is legally prohibited, and both the government and international organizations have worked to combat the practice, which has declined overall but persists mainly in rural areas. The government has created a national program of policies and procedures for handling cases of domestic violence, rape, and other forms of sexual assault, and all major police stations now have officers trained to deal with these crimes. Spousal rape is considered a misdemeanor, with lower penalties than other types of rape. Although some past Bhutanese governments pressured residents to adopt traditional national dress, it is now generally worn only by people working in government offices or taking part in formal events.

Score Change: The score improved from 2 to 3 because the government and other entities have worked to gradually reduce the prevalence of child marriage and domestic violence over time.

Female household workers, who often come from rural areas or India, are vulnerable to forced labor and other abuse. Child labor persists, mostly in the agricultural and construction sectors.

The US State Department’s Trafficking in Persons Report 2024 noted that during the reporting period the Bhutanese government had slightly increased its antitrafficking efforts compared with the prior year, in part by initiating more investigations and prosecutions. It also noted, however, that the government did not fully meet minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking.