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“Would you like a little more time? Raise your hand if you would like ten more minutes.” No hands were raised. For an hour or so the students, Michael and I had been reading through the Bhutanese party manifestos, writing sample articles comparing the parties’ positions on various issues. “Raise your hands if you’re ready to stop.” No hands were raised.

“Okay, let’s practice democracy. Please raise your hands if you’d like ten more minutes.” Ten hands maybe. “Raise your hands if you’d like to stop” None. About a third of the students had participated, but I went with it. We took a little more time.

For the first time this week, the huge task before us really hit home. People WILL vote — the king has asked them to. But this is not a society that has any tradition of voting, not even to the level of a show of hands.

Later, as I went around the room as small groups of students read their stories to each other, one read his, detailing the party’s positions on gender parity. The story was nicely composed, with one exception. The last paragraph of the story read “The key difference between the DPT and the PDP on gender parity is….” Move that to the top, I suggested. A voter who cares about gender parity will want to know that. That voter needs to make a choice, and needs to have some basis for that choice.

Choose, please. Raise your hands.