First Theme: National and international legal protection of the right to vote and the right to contest for elections National legal protection of the right to vote and the right to contest for elections  The Constitution of the Kingdom of Bahrain stipulates very clearly in Article 1 (e) that: citizens,both men and women, are entitled to participate in public affairs and may enjoy political rights, including the right to vote and the right to contest for elections, in accordance with the present Constitution and the conditions and principles laid down by law. No citizen can be deprived of the right to vote or to contest for elections except by law.  Also, the legislator sets legislations that include detailed rules governing the exercise of the right to vote and to the right to contest for elections and protecting this right, including the Legislative Decree No. (14) for the year 2002 on the exercise of political rights, as amended in relation to the referendum process and the election of members of the Council of Representatives, which includes due requirements to exercise these rights and conditions for prohibiting a person from the right to vote and the right to contest for elections, and matters relevant voters lists and the mechanism of organizing the referendum and election processes, leading up to setting the referendum and election crimes, penalties when imposed, as well as the identification the voting age, which is twenty years, by law.  Legislative Decree No. 15 of 2002 on the Shura Council and the Council of Representatives, as amended, sets the composition of the Shura Council, its legal mandate, due requirements relevant to whoever is appointed as a member, defined conditions of the end of membership, whether through removal or the member to seek relief , along with the composition of the Council of Representatives, the mechanism of election by direct secret universal suffrage according to individual member election, with a countryment of the planned duration of the mandate of the Council, the conditions and procedures to be 2