Under the existing legal framework, official fee to contest elections at a National Assembly (NA) seat is only Rs4,000 while Rs2,000 is the amount charged for contesting election for a provincial assembly or the Senate’s seat.

Omanis living in GCC countries have started voting for the representatives of their choice for Majlis Al Shura’s eighth term elections.

Voting started at 8 am on Sunday, October 18 in Sultanate’s embassies across GCC countries and the Commercial Office of the Sultanate in Dubai.

Omanis living in GCC countries can vote till 6 pm on Sunday.

Talking about the technologies used in the 8th term elections, Salim bin Humaid Al Hajri, Chairman of Preparation Committee for Majlis Al Shura eighh Term Elections explained that e-voting is used for the voting process.

Polling stations have closed their doors at 9pm Sunday on the first day of Egypt’s long-awaited 2015 parliamentary elections after a slow but smooth start to polling.

Abdullah Fathi, head of the Judges' Club - an unofficial but powerful body that represents the majority of Egypt's judges - told Al Hayat TV that the club's reports of polling station monitoring labelled the vote turnout "clearly and unjustifiably weak."

Lahav Harkov.-

New legislation by MK Yoel Hasson (Zionist Union) may create an awkward situation for the Ministerial Committee for Legislation on Sunday, as it calls to implement the ideas in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s 2009 Bar-Ilan speech, calling for a two-state solution with a demilitarized Palestinian state.

Sunday’s vote on the bill to implement the principles of the Bar-Ilan speech is the first time the speech will be brought to a vote in the Knesset or cabinet. The bill is unlikely to be approved by the ministers.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awadh Asiri urged the political leaders in Lebanon to converge and find a solution for the crises mainly the hurdle of electing a president.

“Stemming from the brethren relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, I urge the political leaders to work on opening a new leaf and put aside the controversial issues that have emerged in the last phase,” said Asiri after a meeting with Prime Minister Tammam Salam at the Grand Serail.

Kyrgyzstan’s election commission has published definitive results from the October 4 vote, which has handed the leading Social Democratic Party (SDPK) 38 out of the 120 seats on offer.

The figures released on October 15 show that runner-up Respublika-Ata Jurt has won 28 seats. Other parties with deputies in parliament are Kyrgyzstan, on 18, Onuugu-Progress, on 13, Bir Bol, on 12, and in final place Ata-Meken with 11 seats.