The results of the parliamentary elections in Bahrain were announced on October 24. According to the results, 31 members have been declared elected to the lower house. With the number of eligible voters put at 318,668, election officials declared that voter turn out reached 67 percent in the polls which was held on October 23. Shia-dominated group Al Wefaq has won 18 seats while Al Menbar - a Sunni Islamist group could not get a single seat as five of its candidates will face the second round. Al Asala, another Sunni Islamist group that follows the Salafist ideology, won two parliament seats in the first round and has three challenging for seats in the run-off. A second round vote is required in constituencies where none of the candidates secured 50 percent or more of the ballot. If that happened, only the two highest scoring candidates will face off against each other in the second round.1 The Supreme Election Committee has announced that the second round of elections will be held on October 30, 2010.2

• 1. “31 candidates win battle of the ballot”, Gulf Daily News, October 25, 2010, at http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=289939
• 2. “Bahrain Elections 2010”, Kingdom of Bahrain, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, October 25, 2010, at http://www.mofa.gov.bh/