 The Leading Shia authority, Grand Ayatollah Al Sistani advised Bahraini Shi'a to participate in the poll, in a move similar to the edict received in 2002 by Salafist leader, Adel Al Mouawda, from Sunni religious authorities in Saudi Arabia that allowed him and other Sunnis to vote and run in the elections.Shia religious scholar Sheikh Isa Qassim has been urging voters to go to turn out in the polls.