Extremists used ‘intimidation tactics to prevent people from voting’

An election monitor has released a report detailing the intimidation tactics used by extremist organisations during the recent parliamentary and municipal elections to prevent people from voting. A number of extremist organisations attempted to influence the elections with the use of intimidation techniques against voters, according to a new report by the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society who monitored the polls.

Extremist organisations operating out of the United Kingdom, Lebanon, Iran and Iraq, all with the support of Iran were responsible for the intimidation campaign, according to the report. The report stated that the campaigns were a form of Iranian interference in Bahrain’s internal affairs. The campaigns included spreading rumours, holding press conferences, holding illegal rallies and exploiting of social media.

The report stated that the most affected was the northern governorate which was targeted with numerous intimidation campaigns. One of the campaigns included sending misleading messages to voters. Voters received messages stating that they are ineligible to vote as their names were removed from the voters' list. The malicious hackers sent the messages disguised as Bahraini authorities.