Call to collect voting cards as poll day nears in Bahrain

TDT | Manama

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

The executive administration of Parliamentary and Municipal Elections 2022 has asked the voters, who does not have passports under their possession, to collect their voting cards.

The voting cards will be issued by the Nationality, Passports and Residency Affairs (NPRA) as per the directives issued by the Ministry of Interior.

“Those who does not possess passports for various reasons must collect the voter’s card to be eligible to vote in the coming elections,” the NPRA said in a statement issued.

The NPRA will issue the voting cards until November 12 and the voters can visit the main centre within the Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs at the Ministry of Interior located in Manama; they can also visit the Muharraq or Isa Town branch.

Meanwhile, a parliamentary candidate contesting from one of the constituencies in the Northern Governorate was declared ineligible by the Electoral Supervisory Committee after finding that a Public Prosecution case was pending against him.

As per the electoral rules, candidates should not have any pending cases against them to contest parliamentary or municipal polls.

The campaign has entered full swing with candidates and their campaign teams stepping up all their efforts to ensure their victories.

It is learnt that many candidates are visiting the voters in person apart from actively campaigning across social media platforms.

The electoral supervisory committee earlier warned candidates against mudslinging and tarnishing each other’s personal image for the sake of electoral victory.

“Such activities will be seen as a grave violation and the candidates if proven guilty will face consequences,” the warning said. Close to 450 election observers have begun their poll duties as the election campaign season gradually enters the final phase.

The observers are representatives of Bahrain Lawyers Association, Human Rights Association, Bahrain Transparency Society, Manama Centre for Human Rights, the National Institution for Human Rights and many other related organizations.

The observers are monitoring the entire electoral process to ensure that fairness is maintained at various stages under judicial supervision.

The 2022 electoral odyssey has been full of shocks and surprises as many high-profile candidates lost their electoral appeals filed before the judiciary.

The High Civil Court of Appeal rejected the appeal filed by fourtime lawmaker Adel Al Asoomi against the decision of the electoral supervisory committee, which had earlier dismissed his nomination.

Mr Al Asoomi’s candidature was rejected by the electoral committee after accepting the claims in the complaint filed by his opposing candidate Murad Ali Murad regarding discrepancies over residency.

Many other appeals were as well rejected by the court.

The appellants were Dr Sharaf Al Mazal, former lawmaker Ali Shamout and lawyer Muhammad Al Othman.

Earlier, Dr Sharaf had filed nominations for contesting from the Fourth Electoral Constituency in the Northern Governorate while Mr Muhammed filed his papers for the poll battle from Fourth Electoral Constituency in Muharraq Governorate.

Mr Ali was a potential candidate from the Sixth Electoral Constituency in the Capital Governorate.

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