1.
Article (62) of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain stipulates that, “The Court of Cassation
shall be competent to adjudicate appeals relating to elections of the House of Representatives, in
accordance with the governing law.” Article (21) of Decree-Law No. (15) of 2002 on the Shura
Council and the House of Representatives, as amended, stipulates that, “Every candidate in the
electoral district shall have the right to challenge the outcome of the election held in his/her
constituency before the Court of Cassation within fifteen days from the date of the announcement
of the general result of the election. If the Court establishes, after examining the papers and hearing
the statements of both the appellant and the contested elected candidate (appellee) and any person
the Court sees fit to hear his/her testimony, the validity of the appeal, it shall nullify the victory of the
contested elected member. In this case, the Court may decide to win the candidate whose election is
valid, provided the reasons and circumstances of the appeal do not necessitate election re-run. The
submission of the electoral challenge shall not preclude the member challenged (appellee) from the
exercise of his/her powers in the House of Representatives during the period prior to the issuance
of the Court’s ruling on the appeal. The effect of the ruling of the invalidity of the election of the
member shall be limited to the future without rebound on the period before the Court delivered its
judgment.”
2.
Regarding municipal affairs, Article (29) of Decree-Law No. (3) of 2002 on the system of electing
members of municipal councils, as amended, bears the same substance as the previous provision
on challenging the elections of the House of Representatives.
3.
In accordance with the terms of reference of the Court of Cassation on elections, the Court has
adopted a number of relevant principles in the last years, from 2002 to 2014, to serve as a guide to
every new electoral process.
4.
The Court of Cassation in a number of its successive rulings on the integrity, soundness, and
validity of the electoral process stated, “Integrity of the electoral process is the origin; meaning that
the election cannot be invalidated unless it is firmly established that the electoral process is invalid,
thus affecting its results.”
5.
This principle is one of the main doctrines and principles of the Court of Cassation, as it had made
repeated references to it on more than one occasion, starting with its ruling on Appeal No. (2)
against municipal elections of 2002, in the session dated 10 June 2002; Appeals No. (13) and (102)
against the 2011 parliamentary elections, in the session dated 3 October 2011; Appeal No. (104)
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