Liberals’ chances ‘hit by sermons’
By TARIQ KHONJI
Published: 3rd December 2006
A NEGATIVE campaign by clergymen during Friday sermons across Bahrain may have reduced liberal MPs’ chances in the parliamentary election, it was claimed yesterday.National Democratic Action Society (Waad) candidate Ibrahim Sharif accused three newly re-elected MPs of being among the mosque speakers that labelled him and his colleagues “infidels” and urged the public not to support them.
On Friday, two men reportedly caused chaos when they interrupted MP Mohammed Khalid’s sermon at Abu Obaida Al Jarrah Mosque, Galali.
Liberals’ chances ‘hit by sermons’
By TARIQ KHONJI
Published: 3rd December 2006
A NEGATIVE campaign by clergymen during Friday sermons across Bahrain may have reduced liberal MPs’ chances in the parliamentary election, it was claimed yesterday.National Democratic Action Society (Waad) candidate Ibrahim Sharif accused three newly re-elected MPs of being among the mosque speakers that labelled him and his colleagues “infidels” and urged the public not to support them.
On Friday, two men reportedly caused chaos when they interrupted MP Mohammed Khalid’s sermon at Abu Obaida Al Jarrah Mosque, Galali.
Mr Khalid was urging people to vote for the right candidates in yesterday’s elections when the men suddenly started shouting, demanding he stop his speech and hand the microphone over to them.
Mr Sharif, who is contesting in the Capital Governorate’s constituency six, said he believed that the Justice Ministry’s Sunni Awqaf Directorate should have put a stop to sermons promoting certain candidates.
Instead, he claimed, the directorate even brought mosque speakers from one part of the country to another, to target certain areas where he and his colleagues were contesting.
“They (mosque speakers) either urge people not to vote for us or, in some cases, they actually campaign on behalf of our competitors,” alleged Mr Sharif. “This indirectly tells the electorate not to vote for us and it is all being done in such an open way.”
He said many people who heard the speeches saw through it and questioned the speakers why they were doing this even though it was a violation of elections laws.”
Mr Sharif said government intervention prevented the party from doing better in the first round of elections.
His party had earlier claimed the government was deliberately trying to rig the election by ordering military personnel to vote a certain way at general polling stations.
The motive, it said, was for the parliament to be divided along sectarian lines without any liberals to bridge the gap between them. It said the government did not want to have a majority in opposition to them in parliament.
Mr Sharif’s supporters were prevented by police from wearing the party’s orange colour outside the polling station at the Umm Al Hassam Primary Boys School.
Mr Sharif said he did not consider this to be a move by the government against him, but thought policemen were not too clear on the laws.
Meanwhile, Mr Sharif’s competitor in the second round Abdulrahman Bumajeed yesterday said he was confident of victory.
“Although the turnout is lower than in the first round, my supporters are coming in slowly,” he said.
If elected, Mr Bumajeed said his programme would focus on raising the standard of living of Bahrainis. “I’m also concentrating on housing and reducing unemployment as well.”
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© Gulf Daily News
