Shura Council to vote on new BCCI election voting scale

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A draft law to redraw voting power inside the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) goes before the Shura Council for debate and a vote on Sunday, after a committee backed an overhaul intended to smooth out the steep jumps in votes awarded by capital size.

The current system, laid down in Law No. 16 of 2020, gives members more votes the more capital they declare, but the steps are large.

At the top end, a firm can hold up to 256 votes, a figure the Shura Council’s Financial and Economic Affairs Committee says should be replaced with a gentler climb that brings more members into the ballot and leaves the Chamber looking more evenly represented.

The committee has urged members to follow the version approved by Parliament.

Review

In its report, it said it reviewed the lower chamber’s decision and attachments, read legal and economic opinion memoranda prepared on the bill, and considered a view from the Shura Council’s Legislative and Legal Affairs Committee, which said the draft was sound under the Constitution and the law.

The committee also said it discussed the proposal with legal advisers and its financial and economic adviser.

The bill would amend the voting schedule attached to Decree-Law No. 48 of 2012 on the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The draft law itself is short.

Change

One article replaces the existing schedule with a new one attached to the law, while a second article deals with how the change is put into effect. Under the current schedule, members whose capital is not declared receive two votes.

Those declaring between BD1 and BD19,999 receive four.

The scale then rises through bands, reaching 32 votes for BD100,000 to BD499,999, 128 votes for BD1 million to BD4,999,999, and 256 votes for BD5 million and above.