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Tuesday, October 26, 2010     FOLLOW UPDATES ON TWITTER

Shi'ites gain ground: 70 percent voter turnout
in Bahrain elections

ABU DHABI — Despite a regime crackdown, the Shi'ite majority has increased its presence in Bahrain's parliament.

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The Shi'ite opposition has expanded its representation in Bahrain's parliament from 17 to 18 seats, Middle East Newsline reported. The Al Wefaq party won all 18 seats contested despite a crackdown by the Gulf Cooperation Council kingdom.

"We promised to sweep the elections and we did," Al Wefaq spokesman Jassim Hussein said.


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Still, the Shi'ite opposition failed to win a majority of the 40-seat House of Representatives. At the same time, two Sunni pro-regime parties — Al Asalah and Menbar — dropped from 15 to two seats in the Oct. 23 elections.

A second round of elections — meant to decide nine seats — was scheduled for Oct. 30. Authorities reported a 70 percent turnout in the first round.

The Sunni majority bloc in parliament was highlighted by independents. Al Wefaq has been mulling a coalition with two members of the Al Waad party, two candidates of which were preparing to face a second round. Should the two Al Waad candidates win, Bahrain could face a split parliament.

"Regardless, it will be far more interesting to have the ruling and opposition group divided into two equal halves in the house," Hussein said.

Still, Al Wefaq claimed that nearly 1,000 Shi'ites were turned away from the polls on election day. For their part, Sunnis complained that Islamist candidates were removed from the ballot because of government pressure.

More than 250 Shi'ites have been arrested since August 2010 on allegations of seeking to undermine the Sunni kingdom, host to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet. Twenty-three of the Shi'ites have been charged with plotting to overthrow the government with help from unidentified foreign elements.

"The arrest of the accused was based on the escalation of incitement, violence and vandalism," Bahraini spokesman Fawaz Bin Al Khalifa said.



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