Tensions high on eve of Bahraini polls

MANAMA, Nov 24 (Reuters) Tensions were high today ahead of Bahrain's parliamentary elections with the leader of the Shi'ite Muslim opposition warning the Sunni-led authorities that any attempt to rig the vote would be vigorously opposed.

Sheikh Ali Salman, leader of the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society -- the largest opposition group which represents the kingdom's majority Shi'ites -- said his group would know Saturday's polls were rigged if he did not win 13 of parliament's 40 seats.

''According to detailed indicators it would be impossible to win less than 13 seats ... Rigging the elections will not be accepted. All means of protest are open,'' Salman told Reuters in an interview.

''The nation needs urgent care. More than 40 per cent of Bahrainis are living below the poverty line,'' he said.

The polls, taking place against a backdrop of Sunni-Shi'ite tension in neighbouring Iraq, are the first to be contested by al-Wefaq in Bahrain, where the Shi'ites make up 60 per cent of the 650,000 population.

The group is contesting 17 of 40 parliamentary seats, and 23 of the 40 municipal seats, Salman said. It boycotted polls in 2002 to protest against constitutional changes that granted a state-appointed council equal legislative powers to the elected assembly.

Shi'ite demands for more power, the end of government inequalities and discrimination in jobs and services, have in the past led to unrest, arrests, exile and clashes with police.

Bahrain is ruled by the Sunni al-Khalifa family and since coming to power in 1999, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has introduced some reforms, including pardoning political prisoners and exiles in the pro-Western country, headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.

ELECTION FEVER Bahrain bristled with billboards on the eve of the polls, featuring parliamentary and municipal poll candidates ranging from bearded Muslim fundamentalist men to liberal women with uncovered hair.

Most candidates, Sunni and Shi'ite, are promising more jobs, more housing and better education.

The Shi'ites are also campaigning against what they say is a state campaign to award citizenship to thousands of Sunnis from other countries to weaken Shi'ite influence in the tiny kingdom.

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