Bahrain is holding elections in the
face of a boycott by the largest Shiite-Muslim opposition group
more than three years after deadly protests targeting Sunni rule
of the Persian Gulf island nation.
A total of 419 candidates will run for parliamentary and
municipal council seats in tomorrow’s vote, the Directorate of
Election and Referendum, based in the capital, Manama, said in a
statement on its website. Public security chief Tariq al-Hassan
said the police will “monitor groups or individuals” that try
to hinder balloting or threaten national security.
Bahrain, which hosts the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, faced the
most violent demonstrations among the Gulf Cooperation Council
states during the so-called Arab Spring in 2011, with mainly
Shiite-Muslim protesters demanding greater democracy and
improved rights. Backed by security forces from other GCC
states, Bahrain cracked down on the protests, leaving 35 people
dead, and has regularly suppressed smaller demonstrations and
arrested activists.
“The government has made minor concessions to the
opposition in an effort to quell unrest and appear conciliatory,
but has not made substantive political reform,” Patricia
Letayf, a Middle East analyst at Control Risks, said in response
to e-mailed questions. “The fact that the government has not
laid out a plan for a lasting political solution shows that
there are significant obstacles in the way of breaking the
deadlock in the national dialogue process.”
Shiite Bloc
Last month al-Wefaq, the country’s largest Shiite bloc,
said it would boycott the vote. More than two weeks later the
Justice Ministry banned the activities of the group for three
months, saying it failed to comply with rules when holding
meetings.
U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said at the
time that the ruling “runs contrary to fostering an environment
of political inclusion.”
Voting centers will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. tomorrow
at more than 50 locations, according to the Directorate of
Election and Referendum. There are 153 candidates for the
municipal councils and 266 for the 40-seat lower house of
parliament, known as the Council of Representatives, according
to the directorate. The upper house, the Shura council, has 40
members who are appointed by the ruling Al Khalifa family.
Unrest among the Shiite majority has flared repeatedly
since 2011, with attacks against police and protests against the
Al Khalifas, who have accused Iran of instigating unrest among
its Shiite co-religionists. The Iranians deny the accusations,
which analysts say have some merit.
Iranian Role
“It would be a lot easier for Bahrain to resolve its
inter-sectarian issues if Iran stopped stirring the pot,” Paul Sullivan, a Middle East specialist at Georgetown University in
Washington, said by e-mail.
Last month, 40 rights and media groups called on the
international community to condemn “the ongoing crackdown on
human rights defenders” in the country. “While the government
of Bahrain continues to publicly tout efforts towards reform,
the facts on the ground speak to the contrary,” they said on
Oct. 29 in an online statement.
The government’s response has strained ties with the U.S.
In July, Bahrain asked Tom Malinowski, U.S. assistant
secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor, to
leave the country because he “intervened flagrantly” in its
internal affairs, the official Bahrain News Agency said. He was
declared persona non grata after holding meetings with “a
particular party to the detriment of other interlocutors,” it
said.
“While relations were strained following Bahrain’s ousting
of a U.S. official from the country, military cooperation
remains robust and the incident is unlikely to impact strategic
relations,” Letayf said. “Government actions that the U.S.
perceives as obstructive to reconciliation will strain the
relationship periodically.”
To contact the reporter on this story:
Glen Carey in Riyadh at
gcarey8@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Alaa Shahine at
asalha@bloomberg.net
Karl Maier, Mark Williams