MANAMA: Keeping in view transparency as a key in electoral process and in line with its objectives the Bahrain Institute for Political Development (BIPD) is hosting a symposium titled ‘electoral breaches and crimes’ on Tuesday.
The symposium aims at promoting transparency and integrity of the national elections process by targeting elections observers, topped by civil society and media institutions as well as candidates, political associations and voters.
The symposium will host two prominent speakers: President of the Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission, Abdulla bin Hassan Al-Buainain, from the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Governor of Madaba Province from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Saad Al Shihab.
The speakers are set to tackle a number of topics such as the objective procedural provisions of the Bahrain legislation in confronting electoral breaches and crimes and the awareness raising role played by the legislation and Legal Opinion Commission to prevent such breaches and crimes as well as the mechanisms to deal with them once they happen.
The symposium will also address models and forms of electoral crimes in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, and the way they were confronted by the Jordanian legislation as well as it will look into how to avail of the previous experiences of both countries.
It will also touch on the most important gaps that the legislature must mend and the professional standards that ought to be fostered to support the integrity of the electoral process.
Advisor to HM the King for Media Affairs and Head of BIPD Board of Trustees, Nabil Al Hamar, said the Institute was keen to organize the symposium out of desire to reinforce transparency and integrity of the election process in Bahrain as well as to raise awareness among those involved in elections of their rights and obligations.
“Through this symposium, BIPD wants to alert the public of some candidates who exploit voters’ needs to impact their electoral choices as well as to look into the legal ways to confront such conduct,” he said, adding that the candidates who exploit the poor masses to obtain their votes for sums of money or promises of better living conditions are committing national and electoral crimes and distorting the democratic path of the electoral process.
“BIPD has invited two experts in the field to get them raise the public awareness of the electoral violations and crimes, committed by the candidates and how to confront the conduct or prevent it.”
Both key speakers boast of high expertise in the field. For instance, Advisor Hassan Al Buainain, holder of a master’s degree from East Anglia University in 1995, is a top notch personality who has spent more than 25 years in the legal field in Bahrain to be finally entitled to hold a prestigious position as President of the Legislation and Legal Opinion Commission, one of the highest legal bodies in the country, that drafts legislations and represents the Kingdom of Bahrain before the courts.
Saad Shihab, the Governor of Madaba in Jordan, is one of the most prominent experts in the study and follow-up of elections in the Kingdom of Jordan and many Arab countries.
He participated in the preparation and follow-up of the 1989 parliamentary elections and subsequent elections in Jordan until 2010. He holds a Master’s degree in Business Administration from the Arab Academy for Banking and Financial Sciences, Jordan, and is a current PhD student in parliamentary elections studies in Jordan.
The symposium will be moderated by Ibrahim Bashmi, former member of the Shura Council and outstanding media professional in Bahrain.
Al Hamar said that BIPD had spared no single effort to make of the symposium highly beneficial for the Bahraini citizens and key political players alike, notably those who plan to run the upcoming elections.
“The more you educate the public about the danger of electoral irregularities and crimes, the more likely elections become free of legal breaches and yield strong representatives who will best serve the nation and its citizens.”
The Bahrain Institute for Political Development, BIPD, is primarily focused on spreading the culture of democracy and promoting sound democratic principles. It was established by decree 39 for 2005 and is now working on boosting the level of political and development awareness in the kingdom of Bahrain by increasing knowledge among community members and raising their awareness of the essence of political work and of their rights and duties, stipulated by the constitution and regulated by relevant legislations.