Bhutan holds second mock vote, democracy rehearsal

PHUENTSHOLING, Bhutan, May 28 (Reuters) Bhutan held a second ''mock election'' today as a final dress rehearsal for the isolated Himalayan kingdom's transition to democracy next year after a century of royal rule.

The ballots were cast as thousands of ethnic Nepalis expelled from Bhutan in the early 1990s staged a protest on the border between Nepal and India, demanding the right to return to their birthplace and vote.

The mock election, which began a month ago with four dummy parties running on imaginary manifestos, boiled down to a straight fight between the Druk (Thunder Dragon) Yellow Party and the Druk Red Party.

The Yellow Party stands for the preservation of tradition and values while the Red Party advocates industrial development.

''I voted for the Red, but honestly I did it for the king as he wants us to vote,'' 33-year-old Kezong Drukpa, dressed in a traditional red-and-golden-striped gown, said in Phuentsholing, a town on the border with India.

Former king Jigme Singye Wangchuck decided to hand power to an elected government, against the will of many subjects, before passing his crown to his Oxford-educated son last December.

The mock poll is meant to teach voters and officials about the election process, in a country only slowly entering the modern world.

With only 51 per cent of registered voters turning out for the preliminary round last month, the royal family and officials urged people to come out in huge numbers to vote today.

Long queues were reported from most parts of the country from early morning as neatly dressed women and men waited for their turn to cast their ballots.

''It seems people are taking the final round seriously as there are people who have travelled for hundreds of kilometres to vote in their home towns,'' Gopilal Acharya, the editor of Bhutan Times, a private newspaper launched last year, said from the capital Thimphu.

''It is a slow but sure march towards democracy.'' BORDER PROTEST Not everyone is happy.

Today, about 10,000 Bhutanese refugees living in Nepal marched to the border with India and sat in protest on a bridge that marks the frontier between the two countries, shouting slogans seeking passage.

The gate at the Indian end of the bridge was closed as troops sealed the border and stepped up security.

The refugees, many of whom live in crowded camps in Nepal, want the right to return to their birthplace and take part in the democratic process, 17 years after being expelled for protesting against discrimination and in favour of democracy.

''Our movement is peaceful. We are not going there for violence,'' said Thinley Penjore, leader of the exiled Druk National Congress, a party of refugees. ''We appeal to brother India to open the gate so that we can return to our homeland.'' In Bhutan, the ethnic Nepalis who stayed face widespread discrimination and have to obtain security clearances for jobs and places in schools for their children, rights groups say.

Thousands have been barred from voting, refugee leaders say.

Authorities said they were on alert after a threat of bomb attacks by the Bhutan Tiger Force, the militant wing of the Bhutan Communist Party, a Maoist rebel group born in the camps in Nepal in 2003.

''The elections are anything but fair, and Bhutan will see more trouble as the refugees attempt a comeback seriously,'' said Laxman Rai of the Human Rights Organisation of Bhutan.

REUTERS GL VV1644