DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Polls have opened in Bahrain to elect a new parliament, but absent from the vote are prominent opposition figures, many of whom are serving lengthy sentences behind bars.
Rights groups say Saturday's voting is taking place in a repressive environment that is not conducive to free elections.
Shortly before the previous election of its kind in 2014, the country's largest opposition bloc, Al-Wefaq, was suspended amid a crackdown on dissent in the Shiite-majority but Sunni-ruled country.
Since then, the group has been ordered dissolved and its leader, Sheikh Ali Salman, has been sentenced to life in prison.
Just this month, prosecutors detained and charged a former lawmaker for expressing his intention on Twitter to boycott the elections. Prosecutors say the tweets sought to "hamper the democratic process."
