Bahrainis abroad started voting in the kingdom’s national elections early today with the first ballots cast at the Bahrain Embassy in Tokyo.
Overseas voting (for parliamentary seats only) will continue until 5am Bahrain time tomorrow.
The Foreign Ministry has made all the preparations to ensure a smooth process across Bahrain’s embassies, consulate-generals and permanent missions to the UN.
Voting will take place at Bahrain’s embassies in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), Damascus (Syria), Islamabad (Pakistan), Jakarta (Indonesia), Khartoum (Sudan), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), Kuwait, London (UK), Moscow (Russia), Muscat (Oman), New Delhi (India), Paris (France), Rabat (Morocco), Rome (Italy), Tel Aviv (Israel), Tokyo (Japan), Tunis (Tunisia), Washington (US), Algiers (Algeria), Abu Dhabi (UAE), Amman (Jordan), Ankara (Türkiye), Baghdad (Iraq), Bangkok (Thailand), Beijing (China), Berlin (Germany), Brussels (Belgium), Brasilia (Brazil) and Cairo (Egypt).
Ballots can also be cast at the Permanent Mission of Bahrain to the UN in Geneva (Switzerland) and New York (US), as well as the consulate-generals in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), Najaf (Iraq), Karachi (Pakistan) and Mumbai (India).
“Five training and preparatory workshops were held for officials at the overseas diplomatic headquarters while a specialised team was deployed from the Foreign Ministry to support the Parliamentary Elections Committees abroad,” said the Foreign Ministry in a statement.
“An operations room was also set up to monitor the progress of the voting process.
“The voting for overseas citizens will continue for 29 hours from 1am early this morning until 5am in the early hours of Wednesday.”
The GDN previously reported that after the votes are counted, a report will be prepared which will include the total number of votes cast, the number of legitimate and invalid votes and the votes each candidate received in each electoral district.
The ballots will be placed in an airtight envelope, along with the data of everyone who cast a vote.
The report must be signed by the committee’s chairman and secretary. The envelope and a copy of its contents will then be sent to the high committee by e-mail or fax.
Anyone who did not vote at the embassy, consulate or diplomatic mission has the right to vote before the relevant committee in his electoral district if they are in Bahrain on the day of election.
The Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister and High Committee to Oversee the Integrity of Elections chairman Nawaf Al Maawda had previously announced that re-elections, if needed, would take place on November 15.
Results of the overseas voting will be added to the results of the elections which are scheduled to be held in Bahrain on November 12, with a run-off polling scheduled for November 19.
A total of 344,713 citizens are eligible to cast their ballots this year.
They will choose 40 members for Parliament from 336 hopefuls across all the four governorates, and 30 municipal councillors from 176 hopefuls (the Capital Trustees Board is appointed by His Majesty King Hamad).
The theme for this year’s poll is: “We vote for Bahrain”.
Details for the locations of voting centres abroad can be found at https://www.vote.bh/en/voting-centers-abroadd
reem@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))