Bhutan Peoples' Party
Political party in Bhutan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Bhutan Peoples' Party (BPP; Dzongkha: ༄། །བྷུ་ཀྲན་པི་པཱལྶ་པ་ཀྲི།།; Nepali: भूटान पिपल्स पार्टी) is a democratic socialist political party, currently working in exile in Nepal. Founded on 2 June 1990 in West Bengal,[1] it was the pioneer political party in Bhutan. The Bhutan Peoples' Party was founded to represent the Nepali citizens of Bhutan, who felt discriminated against by the Bhutanese monarchy and under-represented in the institutions of the country.[1]
Bhutan Peoples' Party ༄། །བྷུ་ཀྲན་པི་པཱལྶ་པ་ཀྲི།། भूटान पिपल्स पार्टी | |
|---|---|
| |
| Leader | Balaram Poudyal |
| Spokesperson | Gopal Gurung |
| Vice Chairman | Durga Giri |
| Founder | R.K. Budathoki |
| Founded | 2 June 1990 |
| Headquarters | Kathmandu, Nepal |
| Ideology | Democratic socialism Lhotshampa interests |
| Political position | Left-wing |
| Party flag | |
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| Website | |
| www.bpparty.org | |
Overview
The Bhutan Peoples' Party was involved in the organization of mass protest rallies in the south of the country in September and October 1990 in peaceful rallies; the party was declared illegal by the absolute monarch and banned from the country along with other parties formed during the same period.[1][2]
On September 9, 2001, the party founder and first leader R.K. Budathoki was assassinated in a small town called Damak that lies in Jhapa district of eastern Nepal and a few miles away from Beldangi refugee camps.[1]
Still in exile in Nepal, the Bhutan Peoples' Party asked to be registered as a political party when the Bhutanese government first introduced a multiparty system.[1] This request was turned down by the Bhutanese Election Commission in January 2008, and the party was prevented from competing in Bhutan's first ever elections in March 2008.[1] Indeed, only two "loyal" (pro-monarchy) parties were allowed to compete.[1]
