Bahrain Mirror: A local newspaper reported on Sunday (2 August 2018) that Bahrain will open the door for running for the fifth legislative elections on October 14.

The election comes as the opposition continues to boycott after the political national dialogue came to an end in 2013 in the country, which has been suffering its biggest political crisis since its independence.

The newspaper said in a previous issue that the number of candidates for the election reached 224, none of whom belong to the opposition parties.

The government has arrested some 5,000 activists, including opposition leaders and human rights defenders, to quell protests demanding an end to the Al Khalifa family's monopoly over power and participation in a government that should reflect the voters' aspirations.

The government had arrested opposition leader, the Secretary-General of the Al-Wefaq Society, Sheikh Ali Salman on December 28, 2014, following the legislative elections in which he refused to participate, before the authorities dissolved the Society and closed down its headquarters.

At the beginning of the year, the parliament approved amendments to the Political Rights Law that stipulates banning opposition leaders from participating in the elections on the grounds that they were involved in harming parliamentary life.

The opposition withdrew from the House of Representatives in March 2011 after the entry of Saudi troops to the country lead to shutting the doors for any settlement of the crisis that broke out with the eruption of the Arab Spring revolutions.

Arabic Version