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Bahrain to vote on new parliament | Bahrain to vote on new parliament |
(about 6 hours later) | |
Voters in the Gulf state of Bahrain go to the polls on Saturday to elect a new parliament. | Voters in the Gulf state of Bahrain go to the polls on Saturday to elect a new parliament. |
It is the second time people have been able to vote for representatives at a national level under a new system introduced by the King of Bahrain. | It is the second time people have been able to vote for representatives at a national level under a new system introduced by the King of Bahrain. |
On Friday, about 2,000 people protested in the capital Manama demanding the resignation of the prime minister over alleged electoral fraud. | |
The former government adviser who made the allegations has been deported. | |
Salah al-Bandar had accused the government of plotting to ensure Sunni Muslim dominance in the elections. | |
Protesters also accused Prime Minister Khalifah bin Salman al-Khalifah of granting citizenship to foreign workers in order to increase the proportion of non-Shia voters. | |
Foreign workers, many of them Asian, make up approximately one-third of Bahrain's 700,000 people. | |
Voter turnout is expected to be high. | |
KEY FACTS Men and women over the age of 20 years can voteVoters: Population of 700,000, plus resident citizens of Gulf StatesPolitical parties banned, so candidates are organised into "political societies"National Assembly made up of 40 appointed and 40 elected members Election Q&A | |
Shia voters and other opposition groups boycotted the first parliamentary elections in 2002 because they wanted more constitutional change, says the BBC's correspondent in the Persian Gulf, Julia Wheeler. | |
The result was a parliament of mostly pro-government MPs. | The result was a parliament of mostly pro-government MPs. |
Many people have been disappointed with the efforts of those elected the first time around, says our correspondent, and want to see change implemented more quickly. | |
Campaigning has been lively and impassioned with economic and social issues dominating the agenda. | |
Unemployment among Bahraini nationals is a worry in the context of large numbers of mostly Asian migrant workers says our correspondent. | |
Lack of housing and unequal distribution of wealth in the kingdom are also concerns. | |