MANAMA, 27 November 2006 — Bahrain’s largest Shiite opposition grouping, Al-Wefaq Islamic Society, secured a majority in the upcoming Parliament after 16 out of its 17 running candidates won the country’s 2006-10 first round of parliamentary elections held on Saturday.
Al-Wefaq is likely to further increase its hold on the 40-seat chamber on Dec. 2 during the second round of elections, as one of its candidates, along with three other opposition candidates they support, remains in the running.
Their win further increases the hold of Islamists in Parliament as they join three Salafists, three members of the Islamic Brotherhood and two independent Sunni MPs. Four other Sunni MPs may be elected in the second round of elections.
A total of 28 parliamentary candidates won the first round of elections, while 11 constituencies will go to the polls again on Dec. 2 to select one of the top two parliamentary candidates.
Latifa Al-Qouhoud has already won one of the seats by default after she ran uncontested in her constituency, making her the first-ever elected female MP in the Gulf and Bahrain.
Forty other members will be appointed by King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa to the Shoura, or upper chamber of the National Assembly.
Shortly after the polling centers opened their doors on Saturday, Al-Wefaq alleged vote tampering, but Bahraini officials, who did not rule out the possibility of mistakes, refuted those claims.
Al-Wefaq’s secretary-general, Sheikh Ali Salman, who won his constituency and the most likely to be named as the parliamentary speaker, downplayed the allegations his Society made 24 hours earlier when he met with the press shortly after the release of the results, describing the elections as fair.
“There was mismanagement in some of the centers, particularly in cases relating to the elderly, but in general the elections were honest and fair,” he said. He added that they remain committed to their allies from the other political societies.
“Our alliances with other political groups still stand and we still support their candidates in the second round, but this does not rule out the possibility of other alliances inside the Parliament,” he said.
“If their candidates find out that there was vote manipulation we will support them to ensure that the voters’ choice is respected.” He added that they would move quickly to introduce the political, economic, and social files they had been campaigning for in the past several years.
“The make-up of the chamber forces us to introduce these files as quickly as possible to ensure that they are not blocked by the government,” he said. “I extend my hand to all the other political gatherings in Parliament and the municipal councils to work together to help raise the living standards of all citizens”.
Officials report that 72 percent of the island country’s 259,686 registered voters had turned out to vote in the parliamentary and municipal elections, reflecting an 18 percent increase from the previous 2002 elections.
Al-Wefaq, was one of four political societies that boycotted the 2002 elections, claiming that under the new constitution the legislative branch was not adequately independent and empowered.
The four societies reversed their position late last year.
Bahrain’s elected chamber, scrapped in 1975, was revived in 2002 after Bahrain’s king introduced massive political, economic, and social reforms upon his rise to power in 1999.
This year’s elections are the first in Bahrain’s history that political groupings are allowed to officially contest, with six such quasi-parties jumping into the fray.
