Web posted at: 11/3/2006 8:33:30
Source ::: AFP
MANAMA • Bahrain’s election commission yesterday rebuffed the country’s main Shiite opposition group which had objected to the participation of military personnel in upcoming polls, saying they were fully entitled to vote.
The supreme election commission “took note of statements by candidates … (objecting to) voting by military personnel in the general elections on grounds that the military institution should not be politicized,” the commission said in a statement published by the official BNA news agency.
“Military personnel are citizens enjoying the full rights granted by the constitution to all citizens,” the statement said.
Web posted at: 11/3/2006 8:33:30
Source ::: AFP
MANAMA • Bahrain’s election commission yesterday rebuffed the country’s main Shiite opposition group which had objected to the participation of military personnel in upcoming polls, saying they were fully entitled to vote.
The supreme election commission “took note of statements by candidates … (objecting to) voting by military personnel in the general elections on grounds that the military institution should not be politicized,” the commission said in a statement published by the official BNA news agency.
“Military personnel are citizens enjoying the full rights granted by the constitution to all citizens,” the statement said.
It called for refraining from making statements “that question the credibility of this national institution (the military), which is the country’s protective shield.”
The statement did not identify those who objected to the participation of military personnel in the parliamentary and municipal elections slated for November 25.
But it came just three days after the main Shiite opposition grouping said it had written to Bahrain’s King Hamad urging him to exclude the military from the polls.
Military personnel should not cast their ballots “in order to avoid politicizing major national institutions and so that they will not be accused again of backing one candidate to the detriment of another,” the Islamic National Accord Association (INAA) said in the letter.
The INAA is the main political formation of Shiites who form a majority in the Sunni-ruled Gulf archipelago
