6. The NIHR’s monitoring team also observed that the voting process in all the polling stations that it visited started at 8:00 am without exception. In addition, the observers from the NIHR were allowed to be present at the polling stations before voting began and after checking their cards (permits) authorizing such access. The team also observed that all members of the polling and counting general committees and sub-committees were present before the start of the polling process in sufficient time. The observers were also allowed to monitor the procedures for opening the parliamentary and municipal ballot boxes before the start of the election process, which showed that the boxes were empty. 7. The NIHR’s monitoring team also noticed that in some election centers there was an obvious presence of various media, especially correspondents of some of the national and Gulf media institutions. However, in other election centers, the presence of media was limited to few hours only. 8. The NIHR’s monitoring team observed that in most election centers, the chair of the committee counted and shuffled the polling papers. In other centers, the NIHR’s observer could not verify if such procedure was carried out; nor could the observer notice whether there were paper or electronic lists, through which voters can verify their eligibility to vote before entering the polling hall. 9. In addition, the place assigned for the NIHR’s team in most of the polling and counting centers allowed the observers to track the voters upon entry into the election center, when cast their votes, and the moment they depart. However, in a few of these centers, and due to the limited space available, the observers were unable to verify up close whether the voters inserted the ballots (polling papers) in the designated ballot box. 10. The NIHR’s monitoring team found that all ballot boxes were transparent and covered with a colored lid. The red color was allocated for the elections of members of the House of Representatives, while the green color was allocated for the election of members of the municipal councils. 11.  In all the polling stations visited by the NIHR, the voting booths met the requirements of confidentiality and privacy of voter’s choice. However, in one of the polling centers, given it was located in a multi-storey mall with limited area, there was a possibility of knowing the voter’s choice on the ballot. 12. However, despite the considerable organizational efforts undertaken by the Supreme Committee for the General Supervision of the Soundness of Elections, electoral propaganda was observed before and during the voting process, particularly in the provincial polling and counting centers. This was represented by displaying advertisements and posters of some candidates, or by people, mostly children, wearing clothes bearing images of those candidates, distributing leaflets or water bottles with pictures of the candidates or other publicity images, or by others calling on the electorate to vote for one candidate or another, or by direct telephone calls asking electors to vote for a particular candidate on the morning of the polling day. 81