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of eligible voters (the electoral roll) by the Administration. 461 The Times of London

covered in a short report preparations for the upcoming elections in Bahrain, seeing

these elections as ‘the logical outcome of political activity arising from demands for

more popular representation in the Government’. 462

A new biweekly publication named Al-Bahrain (Bahrain) appeared for the

first time on 6 February. It was to be a pro-government newspaper. 463 It only

published a few issues and closed in the same year. 464 There are no original or

reproduced copies of the newspaper available for public viewing in Bahrain.

Lucas provided the Residency in Bahrain with a comprehensive account on

the preparations and proceedings of the Education Council’s elections. The

elections, according to Lucas, were to take place on 10 February. Arrangements

included the erection of tents by the Government at various polling stations since

there were no buildings appropriate to the occasion. Fifty-two ballot boxes were

distributed throughout the islands; each box was to be accompanied by four officials

and a policeman. Voting was to start at 7.00 am and end at 7.00 pm. The voting

process took place smoothly and no major incidents were recorded.

On the following day at 8.00 am the ballot boxes were opened and the votes

were counted. The results were ready by 7.00 pm and scored a massive victory for

the HEC’s candidates as they won all six seats. The total number of people who were

entitled to vote were 23,479 and the actual number of voters reached a very healthy

461 ‘Ayuha Al-Muwatin Al-Kareem… Anta ala Mawaid ma’a Sanadiq Al-Iqtira’a!’ [O Honourable Citizen… You
are due for an Appointment with the Voting Boxes!], Al-Watan, 13 January 1956, 1 and 16.
462 ‘First Elections for Bahrein: A Compromise with Reformists’, The Times, 16 January 1956, 7.
463 ‘Bernard Burrows, Residency’s Report for the Month of February 1956’, in Political Diaries of the
Persian Gulf, vol. 20 1955-1958, ed. R.L. Jarman (London: 1990), 1-8 (3).
464 Al-Maawda, Bahrain’s Press, 102-03.

© Hamad E. Abdulla 148