GUWAHATI: The tiny Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan is to stage mock polls this weekend as a practice run for its planned transformation from absolute monarchy to democracy, officials said on Thursday.

Saturday's exercise is designed to familiarise people in the “Land of the Thunder Dragon” -- which has never had an election -- with how parliamentary democracy actually works. “Everything is in place for the dummy elections, from electronic voting machines to poll personnel,” Bhutan's chief election commissioner, Dasho Kunzang Wangdi, told newsmen by telephone from the capital Thimphu.

Real parliamentary elections are due to be held in 2008, the culmination of a plan by former king Jigme Singye Wangchuck -- who handed his crown to his young Oxford-educated son Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in December -- to change with the times and relinquish absolute rule. The “dummy polls” will involve voters choosing their favourite colour -- the challengers being the Druk (Thunder Dragon) Blue Party, the Druk Green Party, the Druk Red Party and the Druk Yellow Party.—AFP