A LEADING human rights organisation yesterday called on the Bahraini government to open up this year's parliamentary elections to international monitoring.
"Local monitoring like the type that we have carried out over the past two elections is incredibly important, but international monitoring is equally, if not more significant," said Bahrain Human Rights Society (BHRS) secretary general Abdulla Al Derazi.
"No international monitoring has been allowed thus far, but we are hopeful that this year it will all change and international monitors will be granted.
"We shouldn't be fearful of what international monitoring will bring; indeed quite the opposite, it offers more objectivity and reliability to what is happening here and shows the world there is true freedom in this country."
Mr Al Derazi said his organisation was in constant contact with international adjudicators such as the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and believed it was a natural progression for the 2010 elections to be scrutinised in this way.
He was speaking at a Press conference held yesterday at the BHRS premises in Adliya, announcing the formation of the Joint Committee of Monitoring 2010 Elections (JCME).
It will be the third time the BHRS and the Bahrain Transparency Society (BTS) have combined to monitor the parliamentary elections, the first two being in 2002 and 2006.
The committee plans to train more than 200 independent local adjudicators to observe during the elections, to ensure that conduct is fair and to give valuable advice that may help improve the efficiency of future elections.
Mr Al Derazi said it was thanks to the observations of these volunteers that the committee had been able to produce reports on the previous elections, which had aided in streamlining the democratic process.
"Despite this, there are still problems that have not been addressed that still concern us," he said.
"The continued use of the public centres (the 10 general polling stations, as opposed to those in constituencies) is a real problem and one that we have recommended in two previous reports can only be solved by abolishing them altogether.
"Another is the way that the voting lists are created; they only list the name and CPR number of an individual, which means without an address it is very difficult to successfully campaign.
"Finally, it still remains unclear whether military personal are allowed to vote in these elections, something which needs to be clarified.
"The nature of the military is such that individuals are used to taking orders from their superiors, so their votes are easily accessible to influence."
Mr Al Derazi was also keen to stress the need for the Bahraini government to legitimise electoral monitoring by formally placing it in local law.
He said without any type of formal law advocating it, monitors would always run the risk of harassment in their roles.
"Naturally, there will always be government interaction in what we do as we require their help to do our jobs," said Mr Al Derazi.
"What we do need in Bahrain is a law which states that monitoring is legal under law and also the setting up of a permanent commission that will be handed the task of organising and ensuring that elections are monitored.
"We also want to ensure that every trained monitor is provided with a badge that allows them to access the voting halls during the ballots, and we are confident that the government will oblige with this request."
The six members that will make up the JCME are Mr Al Derazi, BTS president Abdulnabi Al Ekri, Jalil Al Nuaimi, Zainab Al Durazi, Sharaf Al Mosawi and Mohammed Fadhel.
No date has been set for the elections, but they are expected to be in the autumn.
danm@gdn.com
