Bahrain Elections

Bahrainis turned out to vote Thursday in the country's first referendum in 30 years, with women exercising their right to vote in the conservative Gulf Arab state for the first time. In villages where a violent Shiite Muslim campaign for change once brewed, women talked excitedly outside polling places about how the reforms they've been asked to vote on would benefit their tiny nation.

Bahrain's opposition movement was dealt a blow Sunday when results from a second-round election held over the weekend showed that pro-government and Sunni Islamist lawmakers had retained their majority in the country's only elected legislative body. The largely Shiite Muslim opposition had hoped to gain at least a tie in the lower house of parliament, opening the door to government investigations of alleged corruption and the extent of the Sunni ruling family's properties, according to local news reports.

Bahrain's opposition movement was dealt a blow Sunday when results from a second-round election held over the weekend showed that pro-government and Sunni Islamist lawmakers had retained their majority in the country's only elected legislative body. The largely Shiite Muslim opposition had hoped to gain at least a tie in the lower house of parliament, opening the door to government investigations of alleged corruption and the extent of the Sunni ruling family's properties, according to local news reports.

In what was hailed as a victory for the pro-Western views of the king, more than 50% of voters on this Persian Gulf island went to the polls Thursday in the first parliamentary election in nearly 30 years. Islamic leaders had waged a vigorous campaign urging voters to boycott the election to show their disapproval of the limited power-sharing plan devised by the king, Sheik Hamed ibn Isa Khalifa.

In what was hailed as a victory for the pro-Western views of the king, more than 50% of voters on this Persian Gulf island went to the polls Thursday in the first parliamentary election in nearly 30 years. Islamic leaders had waged a vigorous campaign urging voters to boycott the election to show their disapproval of the limited power-sharing plan devised by the king, Sheik Hamed ibn Isa Khalifa.

Bahrainis turned out to vote Thursday in the country's first referendum in 30 years, with women exercising their right to vote in the conservative Gulf Arab state for the first time. In villages where a violent Shiite Muslim campaign for change once brewed, women talked excitedly outside polling places about how the reforms they've been asked to vote on would benefit their tiny nation.