BUDAIYA, 14 October 2006 — The head of Bahrain’s largest opposition group on Thursday night blasted the registration process for candidates, saying it was designed to hurt the opposition’s chances in the November elections.
Speaking at the end of the first day for candidates to submit their names, Al-Wefaq’s secretary-general, Sheikh Ali Salman, questioned the reasoning behind officials’ refusal to inform candidates of whether their applications had been approved until registration closed on Tuesday.
“As political groups we have a right to know if the candidate had been approved or not, so we can take corrective steps to replace him in that district before the registration ends,” Sheikh Salman said, as he submitted his own candidacy application in the Northern Governorate center in Budaiya, north of Manama.
Thursday, the first of five days for submitting nominations, saw 111 people, including 11 women, file requests to run, election committee spokeswoman Ahdeya Ahmad said.
Sheikh Salman expressed concern that the delay was an attempt to place hurdles in front of the opposition candidates, to influence the results of the upcoming elections.
But Sheikha Monera Al-Khalifa, head of the polling and election committee, said the response period was in-line with regulations set for the elections.
“It is the second natural step in the process following this first step, which is presenting of applications,” she said. “The law is clear about that, and it is not an attempt to manipulate the process.” That position was also supported by the chief supervisor of the parliamentary elections, public prosecutor Wael Rasheed Bouallay.
The Nov. 25 elections will be the second time that Bahrainis will be able to vote to elect half of the 80 National Assembly members, as well as the fully representative municipal councils.
Islamists MP Sheikh Mohammed Khalid, who will be running for a second term, said he was pleased with the results his group had achieved in the past four years.
“We have established the foundations for the democratic process after the absence of Parliament for more than 30 years and I want to continue in building up that foundation,” he said after filing his own application.
Sheikh Khalid added that he expected the 2006 elections to be more competitive than the 2002 one, after more parties entered the race.
Female candidate Fatima Ali said that women’s participation in the upcoming elections was an achievement in itself.
