Bahrain opposition to boycott November polls

Bahrain's Shia-led opposition said Saturday it will boycott the upcoming parliamentary elections slated for November.

In a press conference, the five opposition groups headed by Al Wefaq National Islamic Society, officially announced they would not take part in the 2014 parliamentary and municipal polls planned for Nov 22, Xinhua reported.

They said in a statement that the elections "will fail to meet fair standards of the distribution of voting districts, avoiding the principle of one-citizen-one vote".

"The opposition parties stress that the current structure of the parliament makes it unable to achieve the people's demands of freedom, democracy and social justice," said the statement.

"The opposition will continue to defend the rights of all political prisoners until they are all freed, including political and human rights figures," it added.

Representative from the five groups said they wanted a political solution through the National Dialogue, which they said has failed to achieve real objectives.