In Bahrain, voting for parliamentary election is taking place today amid calls of boycott by the Opposition.
The country’s two main Opposition groups, the Shiite Al-Wefaq and secular Waad, were barred from fielding candidates, prompting renewed calls for a boycott. The polls opened at 8 am local time and are set to close at 8 pm.
The Gulf kingdom has been hit by ongoing unrest since 2011, when security forces crushed Shiite-led protests demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister.
Opposition parties shunned the last elections in 2014, the first since the 2011 crackdown, denouncing the vote as a farce.