Special voting arrangements made for Covid-infected citizens of Bahrain

TDT | Manama                                                                          

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Nargis Al Banna  

Special measures will be in place for those infected and wishing to run for office to file their nomination in association with the Ministry of Health.

This was announced by the Minister of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments and Chair of the High Elections Committee, Nawaf bin Mohammed Al Maawda, during a press conference at Isa Cultural Centre yesterday.

He highlighted the commitment to upholding citizens’ constitutional rights of choosing their representatives throughout the two decades since the launch of the first legislative term in 2002.

Minister Al Maawda stressed that the electoral process would be monitored and supervised by the judiciary throughout all its stages to ensure transparency and integrity of the elections. He added that the higher committee would continue cooperating with independent civil societies to monitor the electoral process.

“The Supreme Elections Committee will start accepting applications from societies soon,” said Al Maawda. For his part, the President of the Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission (LLOC), Executive Director of the Elections, Chancellor Nawaf Abdullah Hamza, stated the preliminary plans for holding the upcoming Parliamentary and Municipal Elections are ready.

He added that the voters’ list had been prepared and uploaded, calling on voters to ensure their names and other details were correct and up-to-date. The President of the LLOC added that measures to ensure that those who may be COVID-19 positive during the elections can practice their democratic right are taken by dedicating a polling station for them with the aid of experts from the Ministry of Health.

Hamza said the authority started preparing for the elections in March this year. There will be 14 polling centres across the Kingdom. Between September 15 and 21, voters can request changes to their address or other corrections for updating the list.

They can file complaints or appeals before the supervisory committees until the 24th of September. Judicial authorities will issue final decisions in cases of disputes before the 4th of October. Candidates can file their nominations from the 5th to the 9th of October 2022.