Poll rally starts with a bang but slowly ending with a whimper

Manama: With only three days remaining for the parliamentary and municipal elections, most campaigns are now showing signs of weakness.

Fewer people could be seen at many of the large tents used as rally points.

"The relentless onslaught on the traditional Bahraini values, the vandalising of tents, the bullying by religious figures, the direct attacks on opponents, the rejection of women as candidates and the below-the-belt blows were too much for the usually placid Bahrainis," said Jalil Omar, a veteran journalist.

"People are also disappointed that some candidates keep repeating their speeches even though large chunks were published in the local newspapers," he said.

Relentless attacks on the outgoing parliament and a blatant misuse of religion to promote candidates and denigrate others are other factors that have made people feel disappointed that the "democracy feast" heralded by the elections was turning into a miasma, he said.

"The Bahraini electorate has grown tired of listening to monotonous speeches," said Ahmad Juma, the chairman of Al Mithaq Society.

The liberal leader said the campaign trail has shown that some candidates did not have much to say and ended up repeating their speeches.

For columnist Saeed Al Hamad the bitterly divisive attacks on liberals and women coupled with appeals to voters' instincts and not senses were indicators of the wrong approach adopted by many candidates.

"At times I felt that many candidates had a strategy that was entirely focused on winning the elections," he said.