In Duriana, a country of fragrant Asian mystery, candidates are gearing up for the country’s 7th Presidential Elections. The three contenders, with apparently different manifestos and visions for the nation have been campaigning for months. The incumbent premier, and prominent industrialist Izzet Bangbang is hoping to stay in power. The others, the eminent technologist Pradip Yogiki and Duriana's founding father's granddaughter and activist Ping Delima Puteri oppose, the establishment, stress free and fair elections, and find themselves running off against each other.

The Duriana Electoral Commission invites you, the electorate, to come and meet the candidates, (un)read their manifestos and propaganda, put a cross in the box and intervene for yourselves. Who is worthy of being Duriana’s next President? Who will lead the people to prosperity, justice and dignity in the coming years? Who can bring out the best from our political and economic diversity? What are your dilemmas over?

The contending parties have prepared printed and digital materials for your benefit, they are plastered and blasting out of every wall.

Scientific polling surveys suggest that this election is expected to be close. Security will be tight, but rest assured your vote will be counted and the proceedings monitored by an international team of democracy overseers.

Asia Elects occurs from 3rd October (6pm to 9pm) and 4th - 6th October (11am to 6pm) at The Kobi Nazrul Centre, 30 Hanbury Street, E1 6QR.

Follow on twitter #AsiaElects @OtherAsias

Crowd funded on Indiegogo where you can view the video 'Visit Duriana' a collaboration betweeen the Duriana Tourist Board and Electoral Commission.

PROGRAM DETAILS

PV Thursday 3rd October 6pm-9pm

Thursday 3rd October

7pm National Anthem and Presidential Candidates’ Opening Speeches

A patriotic opening night for the press phalanx and all the VVVIPs in town. Candidates will sing the national tune and introduce themselves, their parties and manifestos. Come and shoot the breeze with Duriana’s power elite.

8pm “Premier/Divisions” a film by Chris Paul Daniels

This artist film that blurs the line between documentary and experimental observational studies, in an attempt by the maker, as an outsider, to understand the complexities and tensions surrounding perceived and real notions of division in Kenyan society in the run up to the 2013 presidential elections.

The film aims to present a personalised portrait of Nairobi with all its vibrancy, complexities and contradictions and reflect on universal societal habits to seek communal identities, ideologies and alliances.

Friday 4th October

4:30pm “Please Vote for Me” a film by Weijun Chen

Chinese school children elect their classroom monitor. Watch out for sharp elbows.

Saturday 5th October

2pm Asian Election Broadcasts

A jukebox of political propaganda from the archives.

3pm Presidential Candidate Debate

Our three candidates, Izzet Bangbang, Pradip Yogiki and Ping Delima Puteri discuss electoral issues and engage with the public’s questions.

4:30pm Work/sweatshop with textile jeweller Tanvi Kant

With the dignity of garments workers firmly in our minds, participants will transform discarded fabrics from the rag trade. A craft-based workshop suitable for all the family.

Sunday 6th October

2pm The Count and Closing Speeches from Duriana Presidential candidates

The 7th Presidential Elections reaches a climax point, as the votes entered into our state of the art election booths over the exhibition are counted and candidates face up to the result…

3pm “Premier/Divisions” a film by Chris Paul Daniels

A second screening of a beautifully shot experimental documentary exploring the tensions recent elections in Kenya.

4:30pm “What is Decolonial Democracy?”

With election fervour subsiding, what next? We host a discussion with Amrit Wilson, Arzu Merali and AbdoolKarim Vakil to find out.

Amrit Wilson is a writer on issues of gender and race in imperial past and present.  Her latest book “The Threat of Liberation: Imperialism and Revolution in Zanzibar” is hot off the Pluto Press.

Arzu Merali is one of the founders of the Islamic Human Rights Commission and an editor of the 2009 volume “Towards a new Liberation Theology: Reflections on Palestine”.

Abdoolkarim Vakil is a lecturer in history at King’s College London and editor of “Thinking through Islamophobia: Global Perspectives”.