Many candidates ‘paid children’ to work as campaign team members

Many candidates were guilty of violations as children were used by parliament and municipal council hopefuls to work as promoters for them on the Election Day.

Children even younger than 10 years old who were allegedly paid by candidates were seen distributing pamphlets yesterday in many locations in Bahrain. According to sources, the children were paid up to BD5 to distribute pamphlets.

“On my way to work, early in the morning, I could see many kids distributing pamphlets at the behest of a municipal council candidate. They had even set up a makeshift stand,” a Muharraq resident said. “After a few hours, I passed through the same area and this time could see more kids carrying out campaign work after setting up special stands.

“They were distributing pamphlets to motorists. Another Muharraq resident said that strict action should be taken against those candidates who promoted children to do their campaign work on the elections day.

“There is a rule that there should not be any aggressive campaigning on the elections day and these candidates are using children to violate this ruling,” he pointed out. Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society, an organisation that is monitoring the elections, have already raised their concerns about the issue through a campaign titled ‘Say no to using children in election campaign’.