These are troubling times for Tsering Gyem, a 37-year-old barley farmer in the isolated Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. Her world used to be an uncomplicated place, governed by her beloved King Jigme and the myriad Buddhist deities here in the “Land of the Thunder Dragon”.

She paid little heed to the news and never talked politics, like many others in this nation of 635,000 people that had no roads or telephones until 1960 and introduced television and the internet only in 1999.

Today, however, all that will change when Mrs Gyem votes in Bhutan's first parliamentary election, transforming one of the world's last absolute monarchies into its youngest democracy. Like most of her compatriots, she is not looking forward to it one bit.

“I'd prefer to be under the leadership of the King,” she told The Times in her packed-mud home in a village 50 miles (80km) from Thimphu, the capital. “When power is divided, there'll be turmoil among the people.”

The poll is the vision of former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who abdicated in favour of his Oxford-educated son in 2006 after announcing plans to democratise his realm. The irony is that the new King, 27-year-old Jigme Khesar Wangchuk, has had to use his last days as supreme government chief to order his subjects to vote. “As you approach the duty of voting at the elections that will bring democracy, do so with pride and confidence,” he said in a weekend statement. “First and foremost, you must vote.”

Bhutan's election is a rare, possibly unique, example of an absolute monarch voluntarily renouncing power and forcing his subjects to accept democracy against their will.

It also raises a very contemporary question: is democracy a help or a hindrance to a developing nation?

Since assuming the Raven crown in 1972, the “Dragon King” of Bhutan has succeeded in modernising his kingdom while protecting its unique culture and environment. He has presided over an economic boom, based on hydro-power and a tourist industry that allows in only 20,000 foreigners a year and charges them at least £110 a day. As a result, living standards are among the region's highest, with an average income per capita of £733, compared with £486 in India. The King believes that democracy is essential to sustain growth and prevent the kind of political crisis that forced the King of neighbouring Nepal to give up absolute power in 2006.

“It's better to do this when, politically and economically, things are going well,” Kunzang Wangdi, the Election Commissioner, said. “If we waited for a crisis we'd have to introduce a new system in a rush.”

Few in Bhutan agree. Many fear the political chaos and corruption that plague India, Nepal and Bangladesh. When Bhutan held a mock election last year with parties named after colours the landslide winner was yellow — because that is the royal colour.

Even the two real parties — the Druk Phuensum Tshogpa (DPT) and the People's Democratic Party (PDP) — seem reluctant to assume power. “If it isn't broken, why fix it?” Palden Tsering, a DPT spokesman, said. “I love my King. I love the system of government that was in place. To see this change now, it's a little heart-breaking.”

Both parties admit that there is little difference between their manifestos, which pledge to implement a ten-year plan based on the King's concept of Gross National Happiness. They are forbidden from addressing “national security” issues, including the expulsion of tens of thousands of ethnic Nepalis in the early 1990s.

The only real difference is their choice of candidates, with the DPT fielding five former ministers and the PDP boasting new faces and fresh ideas. “The other party would do a good job if they won, but we feel we could do better,” said Tashi Tsering, a PDP spokesman, in his most withering attack on his opponents.

With policy off limits, the highlight of the campaign has been petty mud-slinging in the local media, with each party accusing the other of vote-buying.

While many Bhutanese find such confrontation unseemly, some regard it as a welcome sign of a more transparent political culture. “For the first time it's OK to criticise someone holding high office,” said Phuntsok Dorji, a 28-year-old artist in Thimpu.

The Bhutan Times wrote in an editorial: “Suddenly we see that we are not all that good, innocent and honest people residing in the land of peace.”

Mrs Gyem remains unconvinced. She has 24-hour electricity, running water and free healthcare and schooling for her three children. Her real worry is that her neighbours cannot stop arguing about politics. “Democracy is ruining the peace in the village,” she says.

Count your blessings

— The Government of Bhutan is set to become the first to devise an official formula for calculating the holistic wellbeing of the nation

— The Centre for Bhutan Studies has interviewed more than 1,000 households with a list of 300 questions

— Previously Gross National Happiness was used as an abstract concept to justify policies such as banning tobacco sales

— Last year a World Bank managing director advised other governments to embrace GNH

— Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel laureate economist, said in January that GDP was an imperfect indicator

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