Bahrain's elections overshadowed by crackdown on Shia protesters

A Bahraini woman walks past election campaign billboards near Manama. Photograph: Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images
It's hard to miss the signs on the streets of Manama: King Hamad peering benignly from giant billboards, and everywhere pictures of smiling candidates in spotless white dishdashas and headdresses pledging to build more houses, fight corruption...