Bahrain bans use of mosques for electoral campaigning

Manama: Bahrain has banned the use of mosques and religious buildings for electoral campaigning.

"No mosque or religious building should be used by a candidate to campaign for municipal or legislative elections in any form," the Sunni Endowments said in a statement. "The ban also includes Friday prayers sermons, holding meetings, conferences or forums in religious facilities to discuss the elections and promoting candidates or political societies or parliamentary blocs."

Distribution of pamphlets, posters or any form of publicity and the use of logos and posters in and near religious buildings are also banned.

The statement was issued after the religious authorities temporarily shut down a mosque hall in Hamad Town, 30 kilometres south of Manama, the capital, where a sitting MP held a meeting to garner support for a religious society and ask people to vote for its candidate in the area.

The Islamic affairs and justice ministry has often requested people not to use mosques or religious facilities for non-religious matters. However, its calls have often been ignored by religious figures who believe that the request was not acceptable.

Municipal and parliamentary elections will be held this autumn. Religious candidates have often used mosques to win and influence supporters.

The 2006-2010 parliament last week held its last session amid a tense situation between lower chamber MPs, upper chamber members and the government over a call to ban the sale and consumption of alcohol and the findings of an ad-hoc parliamentary committee in a probe of appropriation of public lands.

The lower chamber had categorically refused amendments by the upper chamber to its draft law to ban alcohol and the government has rejected the conclusions of the probing committee, saying that they were based on false premises.