NEW DELHI: Bhutan's King Jigme Singye Wangchuck has handed over a draft constitution to the nation's parliament that could make him the last Himalayan monarch to hold absolute power, official media reported.

The draft, containing 34 articles including expanded judiciary and popular voting rights, would be distributed among the country's 20 administrative districts for public discussion, according to Bhutan's web site kuenselonline.com.

It would be the nation's first constitution and replace a royal decree of 1953 giving the monarchy absolute power.

Neighboring Nepal, the world's only Hindu kingdom, established a constitutional monarchy in 1990. The Kingdom of Mustang ceded power to the Kingdom of Nepal in the 18th century while retaining a titular monarchy. The princely state of Sikkim, a former British protectorate, was annexed by India in 1975 when the monarch Palden Thondup Namgyal and his American-born queen, Hope Cook, were ousted.

Republican India to the south ended the institution of royalty decades ago but some noble families still have big followings among people over whom they once held sway.

Majority Buddhist Bhutan is officially described as a limited monarchy with the king served by a Royal Advisory Council he appoints. The public elects 106 of 151 members of parliament with the rest selected by the king or indirectly elected.

The king had proposed a constitution in October 2002 that would allow a transfer to legislative rule and an independent judiciary with the monarchy remaining as a national institution.

The new draft was handed over to parliament in the last week and national discussion on the document would be promoted next year, said kuenselonline.com.

The reclusive king married four sisters in 1988 and is known as the Druk Gyalpo or Dragon King. His kingdom is the Land of the Thunder Dragon. He is the fourth king of the Wangchuck hereditary monarchy established in December 1907.

He has asked his nation to wear traditional dress, the plaid bathrobe like gho with black shoes and knee socks for men, and the kimono-like kira for women and promotes a national identity that values "gross national happiness" above gross domestic product.

The nation nestled in the Himalayas between China and India has strict environmental laws that keep 80 percent of the land under forest and strict limits on tourism.

The king studied in India and Britain before assuming the throne at 16 after the sudden death of his father, king Jigme Dorji Wangchuck.

Between 1988 and 1993, the nation of 534,000 expelled more than 100,000 ethnic Nepalese, a minority to the Drupka people originally from Tibet. The refugees are housed in western Nepal on the border with Bhutan and are appealing the exile with United Nations help.

In 2003, Bhutan fought a brief war with Indian separatists from the northeast who had set up bases in the south of the country with the king acting as commander-in-chief of the armed forces.

Courtesy Agence France Presse