The election in Bhutan on Monday has ended 100 years of royal rule and transformed Bhutan into the world’s newest democratic country.

The end of a century of absolute monarchy was the royal family’s idea, with the king deciding it would be better for the country to turn democratic in a peaceful and prosperous period, when it was not forced by the circumstances, but free to make an option.

The former king’s son, Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who was educated at Oxford University, will remain head of the state and maintain a large influence on the country’s politics, but the National Assembly will be able to impeach him, with a two-thirds majority.

According to CNN, Tashi Dorji, editor of the Bhutan Observer, said that the king encouraged the nation to embrace democracy in this period “of peace and tranquility.” He also warned his people that they had no guarantee they would always have a good king, so they should have the option to change him.

Some people disagreed with the change, not because they were against democracy, but because they were very pleased with the monarchy, as Bhutan had always had very good kings.

Now that monarchy was exchanged for democracy, two parties, the People's Democratic Party and the Bhutan Peace and Prosperity Party, are participating in a race for the 47 seats in the National Assembly. Both parties promise to respect the cultural and social traditions of Bhutan and protect the country’s environment, while striving to develop the country’s economy.

Bhutan is a small Buddhist country situated between India and China, in the south of Tibet. Due to its geographical location and its policy, the country of about 600,000 people has always been isolated from the rest of the world. That is why Bhutan’s nation could not benefit from electricity, paved roads or postal service until the 1960s and it only started to have access to television and the Internet in 1999.