Bahraini opposition confident of election win, warn of sectarianism
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday November 29, 2006
Manama- Bahrain’s opposition said Wednesday it was hopeful of winning more seats in parliament in the second round of voting in national elections on December 2 and warned of sectarian tensions if Sunni opposition members failed to get elected. Bahrain’s largest Shiite opposition grouping, al-Wefaq Islamic Society, secured a majority of seats in parliament in the first round of voting on Saturday after 16 out of its 17 candidates passed the post.
Shia opposition groupings are likely to further increase their hold on the 40-member chamber on December 2, as one of its candidates is still in the running, along with three other candidates from the allied Waad (Promise) party.
Bahraini opposition confident of election win, warn of sectarianism
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday November 29, 2006
Manama- Bahrain’s opposition said Wednesday it was hopeful of winning more seats in parliament in the second round of voting in national elections on December 2 and warned of sectarian tensions if Sunni opposition members failed to get elected. Bahrain’s largest Shiite opposition grouping, al-Wefaq Islamic Society, secured a majority of seats in parliament in the first round of voting on Saturday after 16 out of its 17 candidates passed the post.
Shia opposition groupings are likely to further increase their hold on the 40-member chamber on December 2, as one of its candidates is still in the running, along with three other candidates from the allied Waad (Promise) party.
Waad’s only female candidate Munira Fakhro, who had been favoured to gain a seat but was defeated by Islamist Sunni MP, Salah Ali, challenged her defeat in the cassation court on Wednesday, alleging vote rigging and pressure from the military on members of the armed forces to vote for Ali.
The secretary-general of Waad, Ebrahim Shareef, told a press conference in Manama Wednesday that while the government had been unable to rig the results in the estimated 18 predominantly Shiite constituencies, the existence of large numbers of government loyalists and military personnel in Sunni constituencies enabled vote tampering in those areas.
The presence of the national bloc (WHAT IS THIS?) to bridge the differences between Shia and Sunni sects was critical to ensure the success of the new parliament, he said, emphasizing that the opposition’s agenda was not sectarian in nature.
His remarks contrasted with those of al-Wefaq Secretary-General, Sheikh Ali Salman, who on Sunday had called the elections “fair.”
Islamists led by the Shiite opposition took the majority of parliament seats in Saturday’s contest for 39 out of 40 assembly seats (one had already been filled).
Forty other members will be appointed by Bahrain’s King Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to the Shura Chamber, or upper house of the National Assembly.
This year’s elections were the first in Bahrain’s history that political groupings were allowed to officially contest and the second since the introduction of national elections in 2002.
© 2006 dpa German Press Agency
