ABSTRACT
There were only two political parties in 2008, Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP). There was no ideological difference between them. Their manifestoes were based on the draft 10th Five-Year Plan (2008–2013) and were developed when leaders of these two parties were members of the same government from which they resigned by July 2007 to go separate ways. In absence of ideological difference, I show how DPT cast the elections as moral contest between good and evil forces. It constructed itself as the moral party by deploying idioms, symbols and historical memories to associate with the monarchy. This is because the monarchy constitutes the most important moral authority in national life. On the other hand, DPT constructed an abstract “other” as evil and dangerous. In public sphere, DPT leaders and candidates talked about the evils and pitfalls of democracy elsewhere. But they neither named PDP as evil nor identified any country where democracy was not working. It was DPT workers and supporters, who branded PDP president and his family as corrupt and immoral on anonymous online forums and through gossip mills. I discuss why voters were convinced by DPT’s narrative of moral contest and gave it overwhelming support.
