Election: Court rejects eight appeals; Preparations all set for run-off vote

Rejecting the appeals, five for parliamentary and three in the municipal elections, the Court of Cassation said that even though Article 62 of the Constitution and Article 21 of Decree-Law No. 15 of 2002 give candidates the right to appeal, there should a legitimate reason to file an appeal, like a flaw in the electoral process and proper evidence to support the claims.

Candidates, the court said, should not file appeals based on mere apprehension or belief that is not backed by evidence. In another development yesterday, a municipal candidate from the third constituency in the northern governorate, Ali Abdulaziz Abdullah Al-Doseri, filed an appeal against the results at the Court of Cassation.

According to vote.bh, Al Doseri received 662 votes, or 9.24%, of the total polled votes in the first round. Contesting in the second round from the constituency are Mohamed Saad Saleh Saad Mebar Al Dosari and Belal Ismaeel Belal Ismaeel Saad.

The total polled votes in the constituency are 7,486, of which 319 were invalid. Emad Abdulla AbdulRahman Ali Al-Ali, a candidate in the second constituency in the southern governorate, also filed an appeal challenging the supervisory committee on the integrity of the referendum and elections.

He had received 1024 votes or 22.27% of the total polled votes. Mubarak Faraj Mubarak Saad and Ahmed Khalifa Dasmal Khalaf are contesting in the second round for a Municipal seat from the constituency.

A total of 4,979 people voted in the constituency, of which 380 emerged invalid.

Ready for Run-off

Run-off elections were held at 37 diplomatic missions abroad on Wednesday. Authorities will add these results to that of the second round of elections, which takes place tomorrow to declare winners.

Meanwhile, during the weekly Muharraq Governorate Council, Salman bin Isa bin Hindi Al Mannai, the Muharraq Governor, called on all to ensure their participation in the run-off in constituencies that failed to produce a result in the first round of voting.

Brigadier General Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Jeeran, Deputy Governor, said efforts are in place to ensure smooth traffic on Saturday. Dr Abdulaziz Sweileh, Yahya Al-Majdami, Chairman of the Busaiteen Sports and Cultural Club, Mohamed Abdel-Reda, Ali Hussein Al-Nayem, Muhammad Jarrah Al-Dosari, top officials and several others were present.

The latest vote came less than a week after Pope Francis concluded a landmark visit that aimed to promote interfaith dialogue – his second to a Gulf nation following a 2019 trip to the United Arab Emirates.