MANAMA, 2 October 2006 — Bahraini authorities have decided to annul electronic voting planned for later this year after opposition parties said such methods aim to rig the vote, a Cabinet minister said.
The announcement was made late yesterday by Sheikh Ahmed ibn Atiyatallah Al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s minister of state for Cabinet affairs, after a meeting of several political parties — some of which complained electronic voting was unfair. Seven other organizations opposed to electronic voting boycotted the meeting.
“For the national interest, we have asked the executive director of the elections not to implement electronic voting in the 2006 elections and to implement the mechanism used in 2002,” Al-Khalifa said after the meeting.
Some officials, who asked news agencies not to name them, said the decision not to implement electronic voting in the Nov. 25 parliamentary and municipal elections was made by King Hamad ibn Isa Al-Khalifa.
Elections were originally scheduled for May, then postponed indefinitely until an announcement was made Friday, setting the date for November.
