Bhutan.

TOKTOKHA, Bhutan, March 24 — Without revolution or bloodshed, this tiny Himalayan kingdom became the world’s newest democracy Monday, as wildflower farmers, traditional healers, Buddhist folk artists and computer engineers voted in their country’s first parliamentary elections, ending a century of royal rule.

In a historic event for the country of 700,000, entire families took to winding mountainous roads, traveling sometimes for days in minivans, on horseback and on foot to cast their ballots, marking Bhutan’s transition to a constitutional monarchy.

In a move more typical of American democracy, the former Bhutanese king made one statement just before doing something completely counter to it, all the while preserving a touch of happy-go-lucky quaintness:

Before abdicating the throne to his son in 2006, the country’s fourth king, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, had taken methodical steps to give power to the people, saying that he believed no leader should be “chosen by birth instead of merit.”

As part of his Gross National Happiness plan, he reformed the country’s feudal system, giving land and jobs to the poorest farmers and launching a free health and education system. He and his Harvard- and Oxford-educated son, King Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck, remain immensely popular. Many Bhutanese still refer to both father and son as “His Majesty.”

Granted, I’d lose my shit if our next president proposed a “Gross National Happiness” plan–and I’ll leave the judgments on the national agriculture, health and education systems alone–but congratulations to the Bhutanese people.

Filed under: Profiles in Governance, Mock the Vote