MANAMA, Bahrain: Bahraini Shias have won at least 16 of the 40 seats in the country's parliament in national elections that attracted a high turnout.

Before the vote, the mainly Shia Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society (INAA) party had said that if it did not win 13 parliamentary seats it would know that Saturday's polls had been rigged by the country's rulers.

"We have won 16 and we are waiting for the 17th seat in the second round," Fahim Abdullah, an INAA official said.

The INAA contested 17 parliament seats and 23 of 40 municipal seats.

Sheikh Ali Salman, the leader of the Islamic National Accord Association (INAA) said that the high turnout "proves the popularity" of the INAA, the main Shiia opposition group.

Newspapers and state-run television pointed out that the 72 percent turnout was 18 percent higher than at the last polls in 2002, which were boycotted by the Shiias and leftist opposition.

The results give INAA control over 40 percent of the elected chamber, a share set to grow in a second round scheduled for December 2.

Talking to AFP, Ali Salman had said that all INAA candidates were expected to win by the second round. "If this doesn't happen, it will be because of fraud."

Shiias make up more than 80 percent of the country’s population.

Many Shiias accuse the government of plotting to maintain pro-government non-Shiia domination of the tiny kingdom, mainly through naturalized Bahrainis, including those coming from Saudi Arabia across the causeway linking the two countries.