Rome, November 9 (BNA): Bahrainis in Italy, like all other Bahrainis abroad, began casting their votes to elect the new House of Representatives.
Polling and counting committees were made available to people from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., the local time of the city in which the embassy, consulate or diplomatic mission is located.
The polling station at the Embassy in Rome opened at exactly 8 am for the quadrennial event that celebrates Bahrain’s strong commitment to the democratic practice of empowering people to elect their candidates.
“We are fully prepared for the elections and we are keen to make the process smooth for all,” Ambassador Nasser Al Balushi told Bahrain News Agency (BAN) at the elections station of the diplomatic mission in the Eternal City.
“Bahrain has been holding elections regularly without fail, and I personally participated in the prior opinion polls in Washington, Paris and now Rome.”
In Bahrain, election day for parliamentary and municipal seats will be on November 12. The second round, in the event that no candidate obtains a majority of votes in the constituency, will be on November 19.
However, Bahrainis abroad, whether they are tourists or live there, can cast their votes from Tuesday at designated diplomatic missions.
And the results of opinion polls abroad will be added to those in the kingdom to announce the forty members who will make up the House of Representatives, one of the two chambers of the bicameral parliament.
Overseas polling and counting commissions are located in Abu Dhabi, Algeria, Amman, Ankara, Baghdad, Bangkok, Beijing, Berlin, Brasilia, Brussels, Cairo, Damascus, Geneva, Islamabad, Jakarta, Jeddah, Karachi, Khartoum, Kuala Lumpur, Kuwait, Laayoune and London Moscow, Mumbai, Muscat, Najaf, New Delhi, New York, Paris, Rabat, Riyadh, Rome, Tel Aviv, Tokyo and Tunisia.
Democracy and the right to elect parliamentarians and municipal representatives in Bahrain has been an established tradition since 2002 and elections are held regularly every four years.