Bahraini general election, 2014
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All 40 seats to the lower house |
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General elections were held in Bahrain on 22 November 2014, with a second round on 29 November in constituencies where no candidate received at least 50% of the vote. The elections were boycotted by the Shiite Islamist opposition. The government announced the voter turnout as 52.6%, although the opposition claimed it was only 30%.
Independents won 37 of the 40 seats with Sunni Islamists losing two of their five seats. The number of Shiite MPs fell to 14 as a result of the opposition boycott. Female representation was reduced from four to three.
The forty members of the Council of Representatives are elected in single-member constituencies using the two-round system. Voters and candidates must be Bahrani citizens and at least 20 years old. Non-citizens, primarily migrant workers from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, who migrated to Bahrain in recent decades, make up more than half of the population.
Politics of Bahrain takes the form of an Executive Monarchy where the hereditary ruler, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, exercises significant authority in the context of the 2002 constitution and a partially elected parliament. Politics takes a sectarian element as well, as the King is Sunni Muslim whilst a majority of Bahraini citizens are Shi'ite Muslims.
The first elections in 2002 were boycotted by the most popular political parties, including the Shiite Islamist Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society. Voter turnout was 53%, with the highest number of seats won by the conservative Salafist Al Asalah Islamic Society and the Islamic Forum, who each won 6 seats each from the 40 elected.
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Wikipedia