Manama: Bahrain’s lower chamber has now been voted in by at least 51 per cent of the country’s eligible voters, the justice minister said on Saturday evening.
“I wish to congratulate the people of Bahrain on the success of the by-elections,” Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa said. “According to the first calculations, the lower chamber of the bicameral parliament has been formed by at least 51 per cent,” he told a press conference one hour after the 14 constituency-based polling stations and the seven general polling stations were closed at 8pm.
In the main elections in October when the 40 lawmakers in the lower chamber were elected, the turnout was 67 per cent.
The 21 stations for the by-elections opened at 8am to allow the 144,000 registered voters to cast their ballots to elect 14 lawmakers who, alongside the already declared four winners who had no competitors, will replace the 18 MPs from Al Wefaq who resigned in late February to protest against the way the authorities treated demonstrators.
Several opposition formations, led by Al Wefaq, the largest parliamentary bloc until its MPs resigned, had called for the boycott of the elections, saying that the 40-member lower chamber needed to have more powers.
