Pro-government candidates in Bahrain have won all nine seats in a runoff election.

Election officials on Sunday released the results of Saturday's runoff, which featured few opposition candidates.

Pro-Government Candidates Hold On in Bahrain Runoffs

The results give backers of the country's Sunni-led government a slight majority in the 40-member lower house of parliament.

Pro-Government Candidates Hold On in Bahrain Runoffs

Bahrain's main opposition Shi'ite Muslim political bloc made slight gains during the first round of voting a week earlier. All 18 of its candidates won seats in parliament, a one-seat gain from the previous election in 2006.

Pro-Government Candidates Hold On in Bahrain Runoffs

Shi'ites make up more than 70 percent of Bahrain's population, but the country is ruled by a Sunni royal family. The country's King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa appoints members of parliament's upper house.

The United States has a key interest in the vote. Pro-Western Bahrain hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet, which patrols the Persian Gulf at a time when Western concerns about Iran's nuclear development program have risen sharply.