Bahrain Shiites ahead in election
MANAMA, Bahrain (Reuters) — Bahrain’s main Shiite Muslim opposition won 16 of parliament’s 40 seats but the group said on Sunday it doubted the strong showing would yield much political power in the Sunni-led kingdom.
According to results announced by the justice minister, the Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society secured 16 of the 17 seats it sought and the remaining seat will be decided in a runoff on Dec. 2. The group won 18 municipal seats in Saturday’s polls, with official figures putting voter turnout at 72 percent.
The results could give majority Shi’ites a bigger role in the political life of the pro-Western Gulf Arab state, which is ruled by a Sunni monarch.
Bahrain Shiites ahead in election
MANAMA, Bahrain (Reuters) — Bahrain’s main Shiite Muslim opposition won 16 of parliament’s 40 seats but the group said on Sunday it doubted the strong showing would yield much political power in the Sunni-led kingdom.
According to results announced by the justice minister, the Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society secured 16 of the 17 seats it sought and the remaining seat will be decided in a runoff on Dec. 2. The group won 18 municipal seats in Saturday’s polls, with official figures putting voter turnout at 72 percent.
The results could give majority Shi’ites a bigger role in the political life of the pro-Western Gulf Arab state, which is ruled by a Sunni monarch.
“Our participation is limited,” the head of Wefaq, Sheikh Ali Salman told Reuters. “It is a positive step but let’s put this participation in perspective. There are 40 people appointed by the king with the same legislative powers.”
Wefaq and other opposition groups boycotted the 2002 vote to protest constitutional changes granting a state-appointed council equal legislative powers to the elected assembly.
Many Sunnis welcomed Shiite participation in the polls this time and Bahrainis do not want a repeat of political unrest that gripped the island state of 650,000 in the 1980s and 1990s.
But voters were all too aware the polls were taking place against a backdrop of Sunni-Shiite tension in nearby Iraq.
“In the past five years, what’s happened in Iraq, Lebanon and Iran has increased Sunni and Shiite sectarianism and now this will be transferred from the street to parliament,” local columnist Aqeel Swar told Reuters.
Bahrain, headquarters of the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, is ruled by the Sunni al-Khalifa family. Since coming to power in 1999, King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa has introduced some reforms, including pardoning political prisoners and exiles.
Shiite demands for more power and an end to discrimination in jobs and services have led in the past to unrest and arrests.
Shiites have also complained of what they say is a state move to award citizenship to thousands of Sunnis from other countries to weaken Shiite influence.
The government says it has naturalised relatively few foreigners, and Shiites were well represented among them.
Social spending?
With Wefaq promising more social spending, analysts say the main changes Bahrainis can expect are economic, but some raised concern that more Islamists in power means less social freedom.
“The difference in economic policy will be noticeable,” said Adel Marzooq, an economist and political scientist.
“There is one fear: that personal freedoms could be curtailed because there are now Islamists in government.”
Layla Rajab Zayed, a women’s activist, called for a quota of women in parliament after women failed to win any of the seats they contested, saying they face challenges from some Islamists.
Wefaq itself campaigned with at least one liberal woman but some Sunni Islamist groups were opposed to women in politics.
“There are Islamist groups who will not allow a woman to win. Our situation as minority means we should have a temporary quota in parliament until women are accepted,” she said.
One woman won by default when no one else ran against her.
Some Wefaq officials had alleged some voting irregularities but election officials denied that.
Opposition groups could still clinch a majority of seats if they do well in round two, analysts said.
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