Majority of constituencies head for run-offs; only six winners in Bahrain parliamentary elections

TDT | Manama                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

Only six parliamentary candidates could successfully obtain more than 50 per cent of the votes polled in their constituencies and the situation has resulted in run-offs to be held on November 19 across the remaining 34 parliamentary constituencies.

As per the electoral rules of Bahrain, a candidate must obtain more than half of the votes in a constituency to be elected. If no candidate achieves more than half the votes, the two candidates with the highest number of votes will go head-to-head in a run-off election.

The winning parliamentary candidates are Mohammed Janahi (First Electoral District) and Zainab Amir (Seventh Electoral District) from the Capital Governorate; Hisham Al Ashery (Sixth Electoral District) and Ahmed Al Muslim (Eighth Electoral District) from the Muharraq Governorate; Ali Al Nuaimi (Seventh Electoral District) from the Southern Governorate and Abdulnabi Salman (Sixth Electoral District) from the Northern Governorate.

In the meanwhile, seven candidates managed to win their municipal council seats in the first round of the electoral race while 42 candidates are heading for run-offs. Four incumbents also successfully won their seats; the winners are Abdullah Ibrahim, Ahmed Al Maqhawi, Sayed Shubr Al Wadaei, Zina Jassim, Abdullah Bubashit, Fadel Al Oud and Abdullah Al Thawadi.

Bahrain has recorded 73 per cent of a record turnout in the 2022 general elections, the highest figure since the first elections in 2002. This was revealed by the Minister for Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments and head of High Committee for Elections for 2022 Nawaf bin Mohammed Al Mua’awda during a Press conference at the close of the polls on Saturday night.

The minister said that the success of the record turnout was a culmination of the democratic progress led by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa since 2002 and supported by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister.

“I congratulate the leadership and citizens for making this process successful, smooth and objective,” the minister said, adding that the elections were fair, free, and impartial with voting continuing without interruption across the country.

Nawaf Bin Hamza, the Executive Director, said that there was no complaint received from the committee and the entire process went smoothly. However, he added, any complaints from the candidates will be investigated by the concerned departments and the respective ministries.

Mr Hamza said that the Kingdom has the capacity and capability to hold electronic voting but for that, the necessary legislation is needed.

“We did use the electronic system to verify the voters lists and other processes, but going full digital elections will only be possible in future,” he said. “There was no untoward incident, or an interruption reported since the start of the polling at 8am on Saturday across the country.”

This year, the Kingdom has recorded the highest number of candidates as 561 and 176 candidates contested for 40 and 30 seats for the lower house of the parliament and for the municipal councils, respectively.

This represents an increase of 20 per cent compared with 2018. On Saturday, the polling kicked off at 8 am across the country and was closed by 8 pm without any interruption with people within the polling station premises allowed to cast their ballots even after the closing time.