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Longtime Monarchy Bhutan Votes for Democracy

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The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan has leapt in one day from an absolute monarchy to a democracy.

Bhutan is a tradition-bound land, where people revere their monarch — so much so that the young Oxford-educated king had to travel the country to convince his people to go to the polls.

Whether to please the king, or in the spirit of democracy, most did. One older woman walked 400 miles to her home village to cast her vote.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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