Bhutan's prime minister resigns ahead of polls

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GUWAHATI, India, July 27 (AFP): Bhutan's prime minister Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk and six cabinet ministers resigned on Thursday to contest the kingdom's first elections designed to bring democracy, state television said.
"I on behalf of six other ministers submitted our resignation from our current posts to His Majesty the King on Thursday morning to join the political process," the Bhutan Broadcasting Corporation quoted Khandu as saying.
"The seven of us will leave our current position from August 6," the Prime Minister said.
Bhutan will hold its first elections in February and May 2008.
The country's election commission guidelines require contestants to resign from their current posts in the government and in the private sector.
Khandu said he would hand over the prime minister's office to the minister of works and human settlement Lyonpo Kinzang Dorji.
The country's transition to democracy is the culmination of a plan by former King Jigme Singye Wangchuck to move with the times and relinquish absolute rule.