Bahrain braces for Saturday polls amid calls to boycott

MANAMA (AA) - All political campaigning in Bahrain was halted on Friday in advance of municipal and parliamentary polls slated for Saturday.

“All electoral campaigning throughout the kingdom must now cease,” the country’s official electoral commission said in a Friday statement.

“This includes all forms of electioneering via social media and by telephone,” the statement read.

In the run-up to the polls, some political groups have called for an electoral boycott, including the Al-Wafaa Movement, the Freedom and Democracy Movement, and the Al-Wefaq Society, a dissolved opposition party.

On Wednesday, public prosecutors in Manama referred five people to trial for “encouraging voters to boycott the polls”.

More than 365,000 Bahrainis are eligible to vote in Saturday’s parliamentary election, while some 286,000 are eligible to take part in the municipal polls.

Almost 300 candidates are running for seats on Bahrain’s 40-member Council of Representatives, the lower house of parliament.

Almost 140 candidates, meanwhile, will compete for 30 municipal council seats.

On Tuesday, Bahrainis living overseas cast ballots for both elections.