The total number of voters who boycotted the elections represented only 15.1 percent, a minister said on Saturday night.

Shaikh Khalid bin Ali Al Khalifa , justice, Islamic affairs and endowments minister, announced the number at a press conference as the voting in Bahrain came to a close.

The minister said the second round of polls held on Saturday were smooth.

He also said Saturday’s turnout rates, which were 52.6 percent, were good.

“Some people have questioned the official figures and it should be made clear that the numbers were compiled from different sources and correct,” he said.

“Anyone who doubts the elections figures is committing an electoral crime,” the minister warned.

Opposition groups led by Al Wefaq National Islamic Society claim that voter turnout figures in the first round of voting was around 30 percent.

The groups are boycotting the polls for 40 parliament seats and three municipal councils because they claim that the government has failed to address key issues in the country.

Earlier in the day, Abdulla Al Buainain, elections’ executive director, said Bahrain witnessed a high turnout of voters during the second round of parliamentary elections on Saturday.

In the first round of polls last week, where no candidate secured more than half the votes, the voters’ turnout for the parliamentary and municipal elections was 51.5 percent.

A total of 419 candidates, including 34 women, are running in these parliamentary and municipal elections. The polls were monitored by over 300 observers from eight local non-governmental organizations.