Bahrain: Good turnout for the municipal elections

The Bahraini people on Thursday cast their votes for electing five independent municipal council each is composed of 10 members in the context of democratic reforms for the first time since 1975.

The number of local voters reached 138633 out of 650,000. Some 306 candidates are competing including 31 women, according to official sources.

Two candidates faced no competition gained two seats of the 50 seats in the kingdom's five provinces where women for the first time practiced the right to participate fully in elections, according to the national charter.

These political movements, however, are active within a sort of "societies" whose number is currently estimated at seven. These municipal elections in which rate of participation in it ranged between average in certain centers and above average in others, will furnish for the legislative elections which will be organized on October 24 to renew the parliament which was solved in 1975.

Another round of municipal elections is expected to be held on May 16 in circles where any of the candidates did not get 50% of the necessary votes during the first round of elections.