![]() The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy said in 2022 that there were “potentially 1,400 political prisoners in Bahrain, out of a total prison population of 3,200-3,800”. Banned political parties had their members further disqualified for any role in public office, under 2018 laws. For example, former parliamentarian Abdul-Hamid Dashti was sentenced in absentia to a lengthy prison term for simply insulting the Bahraini and Saudi regimes. Opposition figures were jailed or forced into exile. After that most opposition parties boycotted the 2014 elections and, after that, the regime outlawed the main Shia opposition group, Al-Wefaq, and the main secular opposition group, the National Democratic Action Society (Waad). Security forces killed dozens of protesters and arrested hundreds more, many of whom were tortured in custody. When it seemed there was a democratic opening, during the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ of 2011, a movement “demanding a constitutional monarchy and an elected prime minister” was brutally suppressed, with the help of the Saudi military. vision for the democratization and parliamentary process in the country.” ![]() “Deeply interested in the involvement and partnership of citizens in the decision-making process, out of a true belief in the importance of democracy. But that façade allows other apologists (in the USA, the UN, and Europe) to go along with the Bahraini regime’s claims that its King is: In this context, the current elections for Bahrain’s Assembly are being carried out without the participation of most opposition parties, many of whose leaders are in exile or in jail.Īs even the Washington-aligned Human Rights Watch group admits, this is a façade of democracy with little substance. The two Prime Ministers since independence in 1971, and many senior ministers, have been his family members. On top of that, the King appoints all executive ministers. ![]() ![]() The National Assembly – with 40 elected members in the Council of Representatives and 40 royally-appointed members in the Consultative Council – is effectively just an advisory body to the hereditary monarch, who controls all state power.Īlthough this Assembly makes laws, the King and his appointees can block them. To talk more about the elections and their consequences, I interviewed the Australian academic, Professor Tim Anderson.ġ) What is your comment on the settings under which the Bahrain elections were organised? Do you think it was credible to organise such a democratic process in a country that suffers from authoritarianism at all levels?īefore even mentioning elections in Bahrain we should recognise that there is little democratic in the 2002 constitution or its application. What happened confirms that Bahrain’s parliament is not going to witness legislative work in the upcoming days, but rather greater ties with the Israeli occupation throughout successive agreements in the sectors of the economy, finance, and medicine as well. So, the expected results were predetermined by claiming that the turnout was massive and unprecedented “reaching 73%” ignoring popular discontent and the unwillingness of the majority of citizens to participate. The Bahraini regime has just turned the page on the elections the tactic it wanted: elections without opponents or political associations in a bid to continue undermining rights and liberties and perpetuating the absolute powers of the King after he dismissed at least 100,000 citizens for the crime of belonging to – arbitrarily dissolved associations – or boycotting the last 2 electoral cycles, not to mention the suspicious division of the electoral districts and the main reliance on the participation of the politically-naturalised and the military personnel. Manama’s ‘normalisation’ with the Israeli colony is a serious obstacle and one that springs from the undemocratic nature of the regime.
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