Islamists win elections in Bahrain; constitutional court; legislative elections next

Bahrain minister of justice and Islamic affairs Sheikh Abdullah Bin Khaled al-Khaleifa has announced that the municipal council in the five provinces in Bahrain have completed its member with the end of the second phase of the municipal elections which were held on Thursday.

In a press conference he held on Thursday evening, the Bahraini minister said that the "election process proceeded precisely and was very organized.." He stressed that the people of Bahrain proved a high sense of responsibility and the final results of the second phase revealed a great success for the Islamists in most of the 50 electoral divisions.

He added that the "independents also enhanced their positions in five of the divisions in the provinces of Mahraq and Manama.

However, the first phase of the elections resulted in the win of 30 candidates most of them Islamists from 320 candidates among whom no woman won the elections nor from the liberal trends.

The King of Bahrain had called for legislative elections to be held on October 24th. This decision falls in the context of a series of political reforms that include among other things giving citizens equal rights and freedoms and the founding of a constitutional court, a move that is seen as essential to the consolidation and the safeguarding of true democratic practice where the rights of the individual and minorities are always guaranteed and protected against the tyranny of the majority.