Bahrain elections end, officials say ready for next e-voting

Bahrain has successfully conducted "free and fair" elections, Justice, Islamic, Islamic Affairs and Endowments Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa said on Saturday.

"We are capable and ready of starting (e-voting) in the next elections," said Khalifa in a press conference as polling stations across Bahrain closed on Saturday.

The second round of polls of the 2018 elections were held on Saturday for eligible Bahraini people to elect 31 lawmakers and 23 municipal councilors who will join their peers elected in the first round on Nov. 24.

A candidate must secure more than 50 percent of the votes in a constituency to be declared the outright winner.

"No violations were reported inside polling stations and it's safe to say that the Bahrain elections were free and fair," said National Institute for Human Rights Secretary General Khalifa Al Fadhel in a statement.

Five societies and 231 observers monitored the 2018 polls in which there were a total of 365,467 eligible voters.

During the first round of polls on Nov. 24, officials reported a 67-percent turnout. The first round saw a clear victory for nine parliament candidates out of the 40, two of them women.

This is Bahrain's fifth parliament and municipal council elections, which are held every four years.