List of political parties in Bhutan
In Bhutan, political parties need to be registered with Election Commission to contest National Assembly elections. Political parties can only contest National Assembly elections, since being an independent is a requirement for contesting National Council and local government elections.
Besides the official registered parties that came came into existence after the democratisation of Bhutan, many Bhutanese parties have been operating in exile since the 1990s. Most of these parties are run by exiled people from the Lhotshampa community from the refugee camps in Nepal.Official parties
In Bhutan, political parties need to be registered with Election Commission of Bhutan to participate in the Bhutanese elections.Active parties
Deregistered parties
In 2018, Druk Chirwang Tshogpa was deregistered by the Election Commission on its own request.Other political parties
The following parties are all based in exile.
The Druk National Congress was formed in exile in Kathmandu, Nepal on June 16, 1994.
On August 26, 2010, Bhutanese political parties in exile formed an umbrella group to pursue a "unified democratic movement led by Rongthong Kunley Dorji, President of the Druk National Congress. The group's offices opened in Kathmandu in November 2010, and it seems to receive some measure of support from the Nepalese government.
