MANAMA, 12 December 2006 — Bahrain formed a new Cabinet yesterday, appointing a Shiite as a deputy prime minister for the first time in the Gulf kingdom.
Jawad ibn Salem Al-Oraied, a former Cabinet minister, was named as one of three deputies to Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa ibn Salman Al-Khalifa. The other two deputies are members of the ruling family.
The new line-up also gave a junior foreign portfolio to another member of the country’s Shiite majority, Nizar ibn Sadek Al-Baharneh.
Baharneh is close to the Islamic National Accord Association (INAA), a Shiite group. Baharneh, a former professor at Bahrain University, was one of the founders of the INAA, but left the group in 2004 to concentrate on his business.
King Hamad ibn Isa Al-Khalifa kept key portfolios unchanged in the new team as reported by the official Bahrain News Agency. Two ministers in the outgoing Cabinet were dropped, while two women ministers held on to their posts.
A new portfolio, oil and gas, was given to the head of the National Oil and Gas Authority, Abdul-Hussain ibn Ali Mirza. Unlike other Gulf states, Bahrain does not export crude oil, only refined products from mainly Saudi crude.
King Hamad accepted the resignation of the Cabinet on Sunday to allow the formation of a new government after parliamentary elections in which the Shiite opposition won the largest bloc.
Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, the kingdom’s largest Shiite opposition group, won 17 out of Parliament’s 40 seats. It had boycotted the previous elections in protest at the introduction of the Shoura Council, which has the same powers as the elected council.
