More than 51 per cent of Bahrain's electorate turned out to vote in yesterday's (Novemebr 22) parliamentary and municipal council elections, Justice, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa said.

A total of 51.5 per cent cast their ballots in the parliamentary elections, while 53.7 per cent took part in municipal elections said the minister, who is also the High Elections Committee chairman, according to a report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

"This shows that the boycott has only affected the elections by 16 per cent, if we take 2010's percentage as a reference," he said, adding that the turnout was 67.7 per cent in the 2010 elections when the opposition took part.

"Calls to empty polling centres have failed, because those who have been threatened not to vote were helped by us to cast their ballots.

"We didn't scare anyone or force them to vote, they went to the polling centres themselves - it was others who prevented people from practising their rights."

Shaikh Khalid said the success of yesterday's elections was self-evident and would help open a new chapter for the country's parliament.

"Parliament represents the people and will now, for the first time, be able to reject or accept the government's four-year plans under constitutional amendments," he said.

"Those calling for a boycott are now out of parliament and have lost their compass and we are beyond that as democracy opens a new chapter in every aspect."

Local observers had been systematic in their efforts to ensure free and fair elections, Shaikh Khalid added.

"We just need to trust and invest in local manpower - we don't need anyone from abroad to supervise us," he said.

"Bahrain is stable and is not witnessing turmoil and the percentage turnout we have recorded today reflects that."

Meanwhile, Shaikh Khalid said that there was a higher turnout for the municipal council elections than the parliamentary polls because expatriate property owners could vote in the former but not the latter.

"In parliamentary elections, only Bahrainis are allowed to vote, while in the municipal polls we have foreigners with property voting besides Bahrainis," he said.

"We had a huge response from people to cast their votes that for the first time in 12 years we had to extend the time to allow as many as possible to take part."

At first, voters had from 8am to 8pm to cast their ballot at one of the country's 39 constituencies voting centres and 13 general polling stations yesterday, but this later was extended by two hours until 10pm.

Bahrain has 40 constituencies, but only 39 went to the polls yesterday as Dr Shaikh Majeed Al Asfoor had already been elected unopposed to parliament in Manama's constituency eight.

It no longer elects a municipal councillor following the decision to scrap Manama Municipal Council earlier this year. Initial results confirmed low turnout at some local polling stations, suggesting most voters in those constituencies opted to use the general polling stations outside of their constituency to cast their ballot. – TradeArabia News Service