By MOHAMMED AL A’ ALI
Published: 21 September 2006
POLITICAL societies who met His Majesty King Hamad yesterday called for amendments to constituencies based on population and further powers for parliament.
National Democratic Action Society (NDAS) secretary-general Ibrahim Shareef, who attended the meeting, said His Majesty had promised to refer both issues to the new National Assembly for discussion.
“We have a constituency with 500 people, while another has 13,000, which obviously shows that the distribution of votes is not equal,” he said.
“Election boundaries have been worrying us a lot and hopefully they would be redrawn to ensure fair distribution and proper representation.”
By MOHAMMED AL A’ ALI
Published: 21 September 2006
POLITICAL societies who met His Majesty King Hamad yesterday called for amendments to constituencies based on population and further powers for parliament.
National Democratic Action Society (NDAS) secretary-general Ibrahim Shareef, who attended the meeting, said His Majesty had promised to refer both issues to the new National Assembly for discussion.
“We have a constituency with 500 people, while another has 13,000, which obviously shows that the distribution of votes is not equal,” he said.
“Election boundaries have been worrying us a lot and hopefully they would be redrawn to ensure fair distribution and proper representation.”
Mr Shareef said political societies also called for more power to parliament to ensure further progress in Bahrain’s democratic reforms.
A small group of societies, including the NDAS, have maintained that the current system grants too much power to the government, which can indirectly vote on legislation through the appointed Shura Council.
“The current parliament wasn’t up to the expectations and with amendments by opposition societies, hopefully it will be in line with the people’s aspirations,” he said.
He said that His Majesty also agreed with local non-governmental organisation having observers monitoring the elections.
Mr Shareef said King Hamad stressed that the elections would be held before December 13, the constitutional deadline.
He said that His Majesty instructed the Justice Ministry to look into a possible increase in the financial support offered by the government for poll expenses after complaints from some societies that it was not enough.
© Gulf Daily News
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