This case study examines the enfranchisement of Bhutan’s international and internal migrants. Compared with other South Asian countries, Bhutan stands out for adopting absentee voting policies and processes that aim for greater inclusion of its absent voters. However, the legal framework governing eligibility for absentee voting imposes substantial limitations, such as strict residency requirements, property ownership restrictions and limited categories of voters eligible for postal voting, which restrict broader enfranchisement.

The case study offers recommendations to enhance and expand the enfranchisement of Bhutan’s absent voters.

This paper is part of a series of eight case studies on absent voters in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Details

Publication date
30 December 2024
Language(s)
English
Author(s)
Siok Sian Pek-Dorji
Number of pages
18
ISBN
978-91-7671-853-7 (PDF)
978-91-7671-920-6 (HTML)

Contents

Introduction

1. Context and characteristics of Bhutan’s migration

2. Typologies of migration within and outside Bhutan

3. Status of the electoral enfranchisement of Bhutan’s migrants

4. Challenges to the electoral enfranchisement of Bhutan’s absent voters

5. Prospects for the electoral enfranchisement of Bhutan’s absent voters

References

About the author

About this series

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The Absent Voters of Bhutan

Challenges and Prospects for the Enfranchisement of Migrants
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