MANAMA, 3 December 2006 — For the second time in a week Bahrainis turned out to vote yesterday in the closely contested second round of parliamentary and municipal elections, amid new calls from the business community to “spare the economy.”
Nawaf Al-Mawdah, a High Elections Committee official, told reporters that the polling ended peacefully. “Initial reports suggest that around 58 percent of 96, 661 eligible voters in the 16 constituencies voted,” Al Mawdah said.
Al-Mawdah added that there was a weaker turnout in areas where there was only municipal election taking place, compared to areas where people voted for both municipal and parliamentary elections.
Bahrain’s largest Shiite opposition grouping, Al-Wefaq Islamic Society, secured a bloc majority in the upcoming Parliament after 16 out of its 17 candidates won the country’s 2006-10 first round of parliamentary elections on Nov. 25.
The opposition, which is made up mainly of Al-Wefaq and the leftist Democratic Action Society, also known as Waad (Promise), hopes to further increase its hold on the 40-member strong chamber as five of its candidates remain in the running for the 11 open seats. Five of the 11 remaining constituencies are hotly contested by three of Waad’s candidates and two other candidates, including one from Al-Wefaq and another independent opposition figure who are both running against candidates from or supported by the Sunni bloc.
Last Saturday, voter turnout exceeded 72 percent of the 295,686 eligible voters, which represented an 18 percent increase from the previous 2002 elections, according to High Elections Committee Executive Director Wael Buallay.
He told Arab News that the only problems faced at the polling centers yesterday were ones related to the continuation of campaigning. “Other than that, things have been going smoothly with the centers opening on time,” he said.
Buallay also defended the utilization of 10 general polling centers where people can vote regardless of their constituency, despite earlier calls by the opposition for the extra stations to be closed for fear of vote rigging. “The stations proved their usefulness today, helping to decrease the congestion in some of the constituencies and allowing people easier access to vote, especially with the rainy weather,” he said.
The upcoming Parliament fell into Islamist control in the first round of elections after 13 other Sunni MPs, representing the Islamic Brotherhood and Salafist movements, were elected alongside the Shiite candidates from Al-Wefaq.
The business community that is already apprehensive about Islamist control of Parliament after a semi-confrontational stance between them and Islamists in the dissolved Parliament called on the winners to spare the economy from political wrangling. Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Chairman Esam Fakhro said that the chamber was in support of having the opposition represented in Parliament.
“Political stability will reflect positively on the economy, and priority should be given to developing the economy and encouraging investments, “ he said. “We cannot accept any hurdles that hinder economic development and we want the legislation to encourage the present business atmosphere.”
