Manama: Bahrain's voting process started on Tuesday amid calls for broad participation. Approximately 1,200 Bahrainis living abroad cast their ballots to elect the remaining 35 lawmakers of the 40-seat lower chamber.
Around 318,000 Bahrainis in the country will vote on Saturday. Five incumbent Members of Parliament were assured of new terms after their opponents pulled out of the race.
Under Bahrain's 2010 election rules, Bahraini citizens will vote in a second round, a week after the election, if no candidate secures at least 50 per cent of the votes in the first round.
Shaikh Ali Salman, the head of Al Wefaq, Bahrain's largest political society, spoke out against a boycott of the elections and insisted that participation was "the best and most realistic option".
Al Wefaq and three other societies in 2002 boycotted the first parliamentary elections to be held in the island kingdom following a three-decade constitutional hiatus and demanded greater reforms.
In 2006, some societies joined forces with Al Wefaq to secure 17 seats. This year too, the societies have fielded their candidates.
Smaller splinter groups, which broke away from Al Wefaq in 2005, have pushed for the boycott of the polls.
Their stance prompted Shaikh Eisa Qasim, one of the highest five Shiite authorities in Bahrain and Al Wefaq's spiritual guide, last week to say that people should assume their responsibilities and cast their ballots, despite all the issues that marked the last two months. He was referring to the arrest of 23 people in August for allegedly setting up a network to undermine the country's security and stability.
Recently, Bahraini authorities pressed charges and the suspects' trial is set to start next Thursday.
