Bahrain: Voting for parliamentary election is taking place today amid calls of boycott by Opposition

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.