The National Council is the

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

Bhutan Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainou ...

's bicameral

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

, which also comprises the Druk Gyalpo (Dragon King) and the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the rep ...

. Similar to the

Rajya Sabha The Rajya Sabha, constitutionally the Council of States, is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of India. , it has a maximum membership of 245, of which 233 are elected by the legislatures of the states and union territories using si ...

of neighbouring India and the upper houses of other bicameral Westminster-style parliaments, it cannot author monetary or budget-related bills. Besides creating and reviewing

Bhutanese legislation Bhutanese legislation is created by the bicameral Parliament of Bhutan. Either the upper house National Council, the lower house National Assembly, or the Attorney General may author bills to be passed as acts, with the exception of money and fin ...

, the National Council acts as the house of review on matters affecting the security, sovereignty, or interests of Bhutan that need to be brought to the notice of the Druk Gyalpo, the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

and the National Assembly. Twenty members of the first Council were elected in the first ever elections for the Council held on December 31, 2007 and January 29, 2008.

Membership

The National Council consists of twenty-five members. Twenty members are elected by the electorates of the twenty districts using

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast thei ...

, while five members are nominated by the Druk Gyalpo. The members cannot belong to any political party and must have graduated from a recognised university. (Art. 11) The members of the first National Council were generally young, many of them aged below 40. This is reportedly because only persons holding a degree were allowed to be candidates, and that access to formal education is relatively recent in Bhutan.

Chairpersons

Complete list of the Chairpersons of the National Council.
National Council of Bhutan.

History

The National Council was preceded by the Royal Advisory Council (''Lodey Tshogdey''), mentioned in

as early as 1953. From the outset, members of the Royal Advisory Council were concurrently members of the unicameral National Assembly (the

Tshogdu The Tshogdu (Dzongkha: ཚོགས་འདུ་; Wylie: ''tshogs-'du''; "(Bhutanese Grand National) Assembly") was the unicameral legislature of Bhutan until 31 July 2007. The legislature had a total of 150 members. Dasho Ugen Dorje was the la ...

; cf. Bhutan's modern

). The Royal Advisory Council was formally established in 1965 to advise the Druk Gyalpo and ministers and to supervise the implementation of programs and policies enacted by the National Assembly. The Royal Advisory Council came to be a consultative and advisory body. Six members of the National Council were elected democratically, two were elected by the clergy, and one was nominated by the Druk Gyalpo to function as Chair. Monk representatives, according to 1979 regulations for Council membership, were required to be literate and "highly knowledgeable about the Drukpa Kargyupa religion". Monk nominees were subject to the approval of the speaker of the National Assembly. The regional representatives were elected by the National Assembly from a list endorsed by village assemblies. They were required to be literate, knowledgeable about Bhutanese traditional culture and customs. As the principal consulting body to the Druk Gyalpo, the Royal Advisory Council was a key state organization and interacted most directly with the National Assembly. The first Cabinet of Bhutan consisted of the Royal Advisory Council along with the Council of Ministers (now the

Lhengye Zhungtshog Bhutan (; dz, འབྲུག་ཡུལ་, Druk Yul ), officially the Kingdom of Bhutan,), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is situated in the Eastern Himalayas, between China in the north and India in the south. A mountainous ...

). Its members were collectively responsible to His Majesty the King and the National Assembly (

). The National Council was established in 2008 under Article 11 of the

Constitution of Bhutan The Constitution of Bhutan (Dzongkha: འབྲུག་གི་རྩ་ཁྲིམས་ཆེན་མོ་; Wylie:'' 'Druk-gi cha-thrims-chen-mo'') was enacted 18 July 2008 by the Royal Government of Bhutan. The Constitution was thoroughl ...

, which does not mention the Royal Advisory Council. The subsequent National Council Act of 2008 codified the National Council's independent statutory basis. Part of this framework included an explicit repeal of "all other laws in relation to the Royal Advisory Council". The National Council Act sets forth qualifications; meeting, presentment, debate, and voting procedures; committee and rulemaking authority; and censure, removal, and other penalties for the members of the National Council. The Act also establishes a Chairperson, a Deputy Chairperson, and a royally appointed Secretary General for the administration of the National Council. The first joint sitting of

, including the National Council, was held from May 8 to May 30, 2008. The first session of the National Council was held from June 17 to July 24, 2008.

References

External links

* {{Bhutan topics Parliament of Bhutan

2007 establishments in Bhutan

Membership

Chairpersons

History

See also

References

External links