Bahrainis vote in election runoff

Bahraini voters cast ballot yesterday in the second round of the country’s parliamentary and municipal election.

The first round of the vote was held last week, in which only nine parliamentary seats were decided.

Voters cast ballot to elect 31 seats in parliament in Saturday’s vote.

The election commission said voter turnout in the first round of the polls reached 67 percent.

More than 365,000 Bahrainis are eligible to vote in the parliamentary polls and 286,000 in the municipal election, according to the country’s electioncommission.

In the run-up to the polls, opposition groups have called on voters to boycott the ballot, including the Shia Al-Wefaq Society, which spearheaded mass protests against the ruling regime in2011.

Bahrain opposition: Voter turnout did not exceed 30%

Bahrain, which is home to the US Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has closed the main opposition groups, barred their members from running in elections and prosecuted scores of people, many described by human rights groups as activists, in mass trials.

Many of Bahrain’s Shia say they are deprived of jobs and government services and treated as second class citizens in the country of 1.5 million.

The authorities deny the allegations and accuse Iran of fostering unrest that has seen demonstrators clash with security forces, who have been targeted by several bomb attacks. Tehran denies the allegations.

Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Manama is failing to create conditions necessary for a free election by “jailing or silencing people who challenge the ruling family” and banning all opposition parties.

Read: Bahrain sentences Shia opposition leader to life in prison

A leader of dissolved opposition group al-Wefaq said the rise of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has emboldened Bahrain’s authorities in their crackdown, which has included stripping scores of activists of their nationality.

“They couldn’t go ahead with all the crackdown without the strong backing of the Saudi government. Mohammed bin Salman listens only to hardliners in Bahrain’s ruling family,” Ali Alaswad, who lives in self-exile in London and has been sentenced in absentia to life in prison, told Reuters.

Government opponents say the space for political expression has been shrinking in the lead up to the election. Several activists, including a former lawmaker, were arrested earlier this week for tweeting about boycotting elections, activists said.

“No-one is barred from expressing their political views,” said a government spokeswomen. “Bahrain is home to 16 political societies, the majority of which have put forward candidates for the upcoming elections, and the government fully supports open and inclusive political dialogue.”