Record number of 560 Bahraini citizens filed candidatures for upcoming elections

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

As the deadline for filing nominations ended yesterday, it has become clear that the House of Representative Speaker along with six other parliamentarians will not be contesting polls this time.

Speaker Fawzia Zainal, the leading democratic figure in the Kingdom and the first woman to head the House of Representatives, did not file nominations and so are the other six incumbents.

Other incumbents who are not contesting the polls this time are Ghazi Al Rahma (represents the fourth constituency in the Northern Governorate), Muhammad Al Abbasi (represents the third constituency in Muharraq Governorate), Isa Al Kooheji (represents the fourth constituency in Muharraq Governorate), Ammar Qambar (represents the seventh constituency in Muharraq Governorate), Youssef Al Thawadi (represents the eighth constituency in Muharraq) and Abdul Razzaq Hattab (represents the sixth constituency in the Southern Governorate).

The incumbents running in polls from the Capital Governorate are Adel Al Asoomi, Sawsan Kamal, Mamdouh Al Saleh, Ammar Al Bannai, Ahmed Al Salloum, Masooma Abdel Rahim, Zainab Abdel Amir, Fadel Al Sawad, Ammar Al Abbas, and Ali Ishaqi.

From the Muharraq Governorate, four incumbents are in the electoral battlefield; Hamad Al Kooheji, Ibrahim Al Nafi’i, Khaled Buanaq, and Hisham Al Ashiri.

The Northern Governorate has 11 incumbents who have filed the nominations: Kaltham Al Hayki, Fatima Al Qatari, Abdullah Al Dosari, Sayed Falah Hashem, Abdulnabi Salman, Ahmed Al Demistani, Abdullah Al Thawadi, Basem Al Maliki, Youssef Zainal, Muhammad Buhamoud and Mahmoud Al Bahrani.

In the Southern Governorate, all current MPs except one are contesting the polls: Ahmed Al Amer, Ahmed Al Ansari, Ali Zayed, Mohamed Al Sisi, Ali Al Nuaimi, Issa Al Dossary and Badr Al Dosari.

Isa Al Qadi has moved from the Southern Governorate to Muharraq Governorate to file his candidacy. Meanwhile, the filing of appeals over the decisions made by the electoral committees can be carried out by the poll hopefuls in the next two days as well.

A record number of 560 citizens have filed their candidatures for the upcoming elections. According to electoral records, 420 filed their candidatures in 2018 elections while there were 493 in 2014 poll fray.

The first day of filing nominations saw 325 electoral hopefuls submitting their papers, which itself was a record when compared to previous electoral years.

The past five days have seen long queues of potential candidates at electoral supervisory centres, carrying documents and required papers marking the beginning of the Kingdom’s biggest democratic festival.

It is learnt that 20 nominations were rejected till last evening over criminal accusations, address issues, absence of name in the voters’ list as well as lack of Arabic proficiency.

Speaking to members of the media, Issa Sami Al Mannai, the Undersecretary for Justice and Islamic Affairs within the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments, said potential candidates can file appeals through the national portal bahrain.bh.

“The electronic appeals service that can be found in the electoral website will be available round the clock during this specific period and the ministry has issued a set of guidelines for the process.”

According to the law, any potential candidate has the right to appeal the decision by the electoral supervisory committee before higher judicial authorities and a decision will be taken by the higher judicial authority within seven days of filing the appeal.

The candidate lists will be displayed until October 12, during which time potential candidates can challenge the supervisory committees’ decisions.

The committees must issue their final decisions by October 15, which can be challenged in court no later than October 18, and the court rulings must be issued by October 25.

The final list of candidates will be announced on October 26.

The Kingdom will head to the polls on November 12 with a run-off fixed on November 19.