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Delegates from throughout the United Kingdom have cast their ballots in the election to choose the nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United Kingdom, the national governing council of the Bahá’í Faith.

The election of the Assembly – in common with all Bahá’í elections – is a unique process that does not allow campaigning and uses no nominations. Rather, in an atmosphere of prayerful silence, each delegate to the convention writes down the names of the nine adult members of the Bahá’í community whom they feel are best qualified to serve for the coming year. A total of 95 delegates cast their ballots in the quiet and dignified procedure.

The members elected to the National Spiritual Assembly were: Mrs Zarin Hainsworth-Fadaei, Mr Peter Hulme, Mr Barney Leith, Dr Kishan Manocha, Ms Fidelma Meehan, Mr Patrick O’Mara, Dr Vafa Ram, Dr Shirin Tahzib and Mr Robert Weinberg. Tribute was paid to Mrs Rita Bartlett of Abercarn in south Wales who was not re-elected to the National Spiritual Assembly after 15 years of dedicated service to the body.

The National Spiritual Assembly was elected at the national Bahá’í convention held at the Venue Cymru in Llandudno, Wales. Also present were representatives of other Bahá’í institutions and more than 200 observers.

The convention, which ran from the afternoon of Friday 24 April until Sunday 26 April, also afforded delegates the opportunity to consult freely upon subjects of interest and concern. Foremost in the minds of participants this year was the way that Bahá’í communities are responding to the particular challenges in their wider communities, learning how to apply the teachings of the Bahá’í Faith to the needs of society by providing activities of a spiritual, social and educational nature. Programmes of moral education for children and early teenagers are among the many initiatives Bahá’ís are carrying out with their friends and neighbours to serve society.

The ongoing persecution of the Bahá’í community in Iran, where the Bahá’í Faith was born in the mid-19th century, was also in the minds of delegates who joined in a special programme of prayer and remembrance.