Shiites dismiss Bahrain election turnout claims
Controversy yesterday clouded Bahrain's first election since Sunni authorities crushed protests led by the Gulf monarchy's Shiite majority, with the opposition mocking government boasts of more than 50 per cent turnout.
Controversy yesterday clouded Bahrain's first election since Sunni authorities crushed protests led by the Gulf monarchy's Shiite majority, with the opposition mocking government boasts of more than 50 per cent turnout.
The focus was on turnout, a key marker of the poll's validity after an opposition boycott, and the count was still underway after Saturday's election to a 40-member parliament.
The official electoral commission put turnout at 51.5 per cent, but the Shiite opposition, which has dismissed the polls as a "farce", said only 30 per cent of eligible voters had cast their ballot.
Both sides traded accusations of electoral malpractice, with the opposition saying tens of thousands of people were pressured to vote, while the Sunni authorities accused Shiite militants of preventing others from reaching polling stations.
"Lying, insults and ridicule are the weapon of the defeated," said Information Minister Sameera Rajab, retaliating to claims of vote rigging.
The legislative polls were the first since security forces in the Sunni Muslim-ruled kingdom crushed Arab Spring-inspired protests led by the majority Shiites in 2011. The tiny Gulf state and key US ally remains divided nearly four years after the protests.
