Bhutanese National Assembly election, 2013

2008 ←

31 May and 13 July 2013

All 47 seats to the National Assembly 24 seats needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	Tshering Tobgay	Jigme Thinley
Party	PDP	DPT
Leader since	28 August 2008
Leader's seat	Sombaykha	Nanong-Shumar
Last election	2 seats, 32.96%	45 seats, 67.04%
Seats before	2	45
Seats won	32	15
Seat change	30	30
Popular vote	138,760	114,093
Percentage	54.88	45.12%
Swing	21.92%	21.92%

Prime Minister before election

Jigme Thinley
DPT

Prime Minister-designate

Tshering Tobgay
PDP

Jigme Thinley
DPT

Tshering Tobgay
PDP

National Assembly elections were held in Bhutan on 31 May and 13 July 2013. The result was a victory for the opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP), which won 32 of the 47 seats. The elections were the second general elections to occur in Bhutan since former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck ushered in democratic reforms.

By law, the National Assembly is required to be reconstituted within 90 days of its previous term expiring. As the term of the Assembly elected in 2008 expired on 20 April 2013, this meant that the new Assembly would need to have been elected by 20 July.

The election was held in two rounds. In the first round every party contested all 20 Dzongkhags (the administrative and judicial districts of Bhutan). The parties with the two highest vote tallies progressed to the second round, in which they put forward candidates in each of the 47 National Assembly constituencies. In the first round of the elections, the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party had received roughly 40% of votes and the People's Democratic Party receiving approximately 30%, with two other parties sharing the other 30% of the votes.

A total of 381,790 voters were registered for the election. The election date for the first round was made a public holiday, with all businesses required to close on the day. Over 4,000 electronic voting machines were provided by India for the election.

Four parties contested the election; the ruling Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party (DPT), the main opposition People's Democratic Party, and two new parties, Druk Nymrub Tshogpa and Druck Chirwang Tshogpa. A fifth party, the Bhutan Kuen-Nyam Party, attempted to participate in the election, but failed to field a university-educated candidate in Gasa District in the northern part of the country. Consequently, the Bhutanese Elections Commission disqualified the party, even though each of the four other parties had made official requests to the commission to allow the Bhutan Kuen-Nyam Party to participate. The head of the party, Sonam Tobgay, stated that "Four parties appealing for the fifth party, who couldn’t qualify, is something unprecedented universally and internationally, something special and noble." The DPT campaigned for the support of rural communities having improved access to roads, mobile phone networks and electricity during its tenure.

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