Discrimination and Spread of Feelings of Injustice and Distrust Pave Way to Instability
Thirty Thousand Tribal Saudis and Arabs Take Part in Bahrain’s Elections
A New Law Permits the Deprivation of Activists and Dissidents from their Political Rights
Government Runs the Elections with No Neutral Supervision
Electoral Districts Based on Tribal And Sectarian Discrimination
The Elected Council Of Representatives Unable To Carry Out Its Duties Independently
11 August 2006
Discrimination and Spread of Feelings of Injustice and Distrust Pave Way to Instability
Thirty Thousand Tribal Saudis and Arabs Take Part in Bahrain’s Elections
A New Law Permits the Deprivation of Activists and Dissidents from their Political Rights
Government Runs the Elections with No Neutral Supervision
Electoral Districts Based on Tribal And Sectarian Discrimination
The Elected Council Of Representatives Unable To Carry Out Its Duties Independently
11 August 2006
While unofficial sources mention that the parliamentary and municipal elections will take place before the end of this year, and as the political opposition associations announce the end of their boycott to the elections, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights follows with concern the policy of the Bahraini authorities in manipulating the process of the elections and the possibility of manipulating its results. In doing so, the government uses a whole system of policies, laws and procedures that contradict international norms and standards related to democracy, transparency and human rights.
Saudi Arabians vote in Bahrain’s elections:
The BCHR fears that the government’s insistence on using an electronic voting system in the coming elections, in addition to the possibility of forging the results, is to hide the participation of 15 – 20[1] thousand Saudi nationals in the election without them needing to come to Bahrain, a country which they have never lived in. In the last few years, the Bahraini authorities have granted Bahraini nationality to Saudi citizens from the Al-Dawaser tribe because they share the same tribal origin and Sunni sect as the ruling family which came to Bahrain from the Arabian Peninsula in 1783. Some of those closely related to the authorities justify giving the nationality to those Saudi citizens in that their grandparents lived in Bahrain decades ago, before moving away to Saudi Arabia again. However, there are no answers to the question of why this large number of people was given nationality in this period particularly, and not openly, or why they were registered under fake addresses in different areas in Bahrain. Although Saudi law does not allow dual nationality, the Saudi authorities are overlooking what is happening. Despite the fact that the Bahrain authorities have not revealed the actual number of Saudis who have been naturalized, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights has irrefutable documents that show the truth of this case.
The Right to nominate and vote is granted to 30 thousand who were extraordinarily naturalized:
The Bahraini authorities have issued a decree that gives the instant right to nominate and vote to everyone who receives the Bahraini nationality, in contrast to the previous rules which would deny these rights until ten years after the person has been naturalized. In addition to the Saudi Al-Dawaser tribe which has been mentioned above, most of the 10-15 thousand tribal Syrians, Yemenis and Jordanians who have been recruited specially to work in the military and the Security Special Force also benefit from this law. Many of them have been granted Bahraini nationality, despite having not fulfilled the required legal residency period.
Hence, the authorities in Bahrain have granted nationality extraordinarily and collectively to an estimated number of 25-35 thousand non Bahraini persons, believing that they are politically loyal to the ruling family as they belong to the same origin and sect, i.e. tribal Sunnis. This number can change the election’s results, considering that the electorate in Bahrain does not exceed 180 thousand votes, which is already divided according to ethnic, sectarian and political lines.
A New Law permits the government to deprive Activists and dissidents from their political rights:
The outgoing council of representatives and Shura council passed a group of laws that restrains rights regarding political activities, organization, gathering and opinion. They also passed an anti-terrorism law that violates human rights. The two councils have also passed a law, put forth by the government, which deprives anyone who has been sentenced to a prison term of 6 months to 3 years from his or her political rights for ten years. It also deprives, for life, all citizens who receive a sentence of 3 years or more, from their right to run in the general elections. Taking into consideration the laws that punish for the practice of basic rights and freedoms, the aforementioned law permits the government to pursue human rights and political activists by depriving them of their political rights, especially when given that the judiciary is still under the government’s power and control. If it gets decided that this law shall be carried out with retroactive effect, then the government will be able to deprive most of the human right and political activists from their political rights because of verdicts that have been pronounced against them in the past period.
The government runs the elections with no neutral supervision:
The entire process of the elections is subjected to the executive authority and not to an independent panel that would guarantee independence and integrity in the elections. It is expected that the process of the coming elections will be made in the absence of any real supervision, as the authorities have rejected any exterior supervision until now, as well as controlling the internal supervision which in essence lacks capacity and experience.
Gerrymandered electoral districts are based on tribal and sectarian discrimination:
The authority deliberately defined the electoral districts in a geographically distorted way to guarantee that the districts which are loyal to the ruling family benefit from a majority in the council of representatives. For example, a citizen’s vote in the southern district, which is inhabited by people belonging to the tribal-Sunni minority, has 33 times more electoral power than a vote in the northern district, inhabited by the Shiite majority, which the government regards as basis for opposition.
The Elected “Council of Representatives” is unable to carry out its duty independently:
Although all aforementioned laws and procedures guarantee a majority in the National Assembly for those loyal to the ruling family, the newly-declared constitutional amendments by the king, which caused considerable disagreement, ventured upon depriving the elected council from its ability to carrying out its essential duties independently. The king originated an appointed “Shura Council” which was granted equal legislative power as the elected council, and even surpasses it by having the right to chairmanship when the two councils meet. The authority also set up a system which prevents the Council of Representatives from calling the prime minister to account, and which gives priority to draft laws initiated by the government. It also gives the government the role of drafting any law proposed by council members, and the council cannot call the government to account or investigate corruption and transgression cases which predate the council’s work period which started in December 2002.
Based on that, the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights is concerned about an escalation of tension, instability and disturbance as a result of discrimination and the spread of feelings of injustice and distrust. The BCHR calls upon the national and international bodies and organizations to carry out a more efficient role in pressing for:
- Adjusting the situation of the gerrymandered electoral districts to achieve the most possible equality between the citizens.
- Permitting the reformation of the constitution of 2002 whereby the representatives of the people are given full jurisdiction in legislation and supervision.
- Forming an independent credible body to supervise the elections.
- Permitting independent and effective local and external monitoring of the election.
- Revealing information in regards to those that have been extraordinarily granted nationality, whether inside or outside Bahrain, and reviewing the legitimacy of their participation in the elections.
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[1] This number is taken from the answers of the naturalized Saudis shown in an independent documentary film. To read the film script click here.