Bahraini general election, 2010

Bahraini general election, 2010

10 December 2010 (2010-24-10)
All 40 seats to the lower house
First party Second party Third party   Leader Ali Salman Ghanim Al Buaneen Salah Ali Party Al Wefaq Al Asalah Al-Menbar Islamic Society Seats won 18 3 2 Popular vote 82,838 5,277 5,452

General elections were held in Bahrain with the first-round on 23 October 2010, and the second round on 30 October. Al-Wefaq won a plurality. The election followed controversy amidst boycotts and arrests.

Background

The lower house of parliament, for which the election is held, has the authority to pass legislation proposed by the sovereign or the governing cabinet, as well as monitoring authority. The upper consultative council has the power to block legislation from the lower house.

Campaign

The main opposition party Haq Movement and several other opposition parties such as the Wafa Party, Bahrain Freedom Movement, Khalas Movement and Islamic Action Society decided to boycott the election.

Riots were also reported after several opposition spokespersons were arrested after speaking about human rights issues in Bahrain. The head of Al Wefaq party, also said that "The way the ongoing security campaign has been handled and the rights violations that accompanied it have in one week destroyed 10 years of progress in this country."

There were also further arrests and repressions of the Shia majority. Shia political activists and international human rights watchdogs warned of a "drift back to full-blown authoritarianism." However, Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa claimed the arrests were "not linked to elections." Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the Project on Middle East Democracy noted government arrests and repressions ahread of the election.

The head of the Al Wefaq party, Ali Salman, said the government should be shared with the people, in what was read as an open challenge to the ruling Al-Khalifa dynasty. "It is unacceptable that power be monopolised by a single family, even one to which we owe respect and consideration. We look forward to the day when any child of the people, be they Sunni or Shia, can become prime minister."

Conduct

About 292 Bahraini observers from non-governmental organizations monitored the elections, though foreign observers were not allowed.

The credibility of the election was threatened by allegations of voting problems. Al Wefaq's Sheikh Ali Salman claimed at least 890 voters were not allowed to vote in mostly Shia districts because their names were absent from electoral lists. "This is not the full number. We expect it to be higher." The party tallied up the voters who said there were not allowed to vote, in order to use these numbers to challenge to the official results. The opposition also expressed concern that the authorities used the votes of military personnel in favour of some candidates at the expense of others in an "exploitation of general positions."

Results

Forty seats were elected on October 24, with the runoffs that were needed on October 30. A total of 127 candidates competed in the election, which was also chose municipal councils.

More thant 318,000 were eligible to vote. Head of the electoral commission and Justice Minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ali al-Khalifa, gave an estimate of turnout of "at least 67 percent," less than the 72% in 2006 and 53.4% in 2002. 127 candidates stood in the election.

The Islamic National Accord Association won 18 of the 40 seats, 1 more than the previous election. Shia and independent candidates won a majority of seats for the first time.

National

 Summary of the 23 October and 30 October 2010 Council of Representatives of Bahrain elections results

Party		Ideology	Seats
	Al Wefaq	Shia Islamist	18
	Al Asalah	Sunni Salafist	3
	Al-Menbar Islamic Society	Sunni Islamist	2
	Independents	Various	17
	Total		40
Source:

By constituency

 Winners of 2010 Bahraini parliamentary elections

Governorate	District	Candidate's name	Affiliation		1st round		2nd round
					Votes	%	Votes	%
Capital	1	Adel Assoumi		Independent	1878	65.32%
	2	Khalil Al Marzooq		Al Wefaq	2141	58.40%
	3	Hadi Al Mousawi		Al Wefaq	1926	85.64%
	4	Abduljalil Khalil		Al Wefaq	Win by default
	5	Mohammed Mezel		Al Wefaq	1667	67.24%
	6	Abdulrahman Bumajeed		Independent	1144	56.89%
	7	Abdulmajid Al Sebea		Al Wefaq	1842	63.45%
	8	Jameel Kadhim		Al Wefaq	2818	86.20%
Muharraq	1	Adel Al Maawda		Al Asalah	Win by default
	2	Abdul Hameed Al Meer		Independent	1357	43.83%	1737	58.60%
	3	Ali Ahmed		Al Menbar	1140	37.11%	1675	55.03%
	4	Mahmood Al Mahmood		Independent	1904	26.41%	3418	52.58%
	5	Isa Al Kooheji		Independent	1891	57.62%
	6	Ali Al Asheeri		Al Wefaq	4422	83.77%
	7	Othman Sharif		Independent	4562	55.72%
	8	Ghanem Al Buainain		Al Asalah	2099	42.85%	2774	59.49%
Northern	1	Matar Ibrahim Matar		Al Wefaq	7689	85.72%
	2	Ali Al Aswad		Al Wefaq	6577	87.71%
	3	Abdul Hussain Al Metghawi		Al Wefaq	6523	89.98%
	4	Hassan Al Dossari		Independent	1545	57.82%
	5	Mohammed Majeed		Al Wefaq	5132	86.76%
	6	Mohammed Ismail Al Ammadi		Al Menbar	3263	45.22%	3777	56.82%
	7	Jassim Hussain		Al Wefaq	5107	59.03%
	8	Jawad Fairuz		Al Wefaq	5954	54.99%
	9	Hassan Sultan		Al Wefaq	8814	89.43%
Central	1	Salman Abdullah Salem		Al Wefaq	6175	67.49%
	2	Abdullah Al Aali		Al Wefaq	7242	88.99%
	3	Adnan Al Maliki		Independent	1875	45.18%	2533	59.36%
	4	Isa Al Qadhi		Independent	3237	43.13%	3905	55.99%
	5	Abdali Mohammed Hassan		Al Wefaq	3501	56.65%
	6	Hassan Isa		Al Wefaq	5308	91.96%
	7	Abdulhalim Murad		Al Asalah	3178	55.9%
	8	Ali Zayed		Independent	3108	39.75%	3888	50.20%
	9	Khalifa Al Dhahrani		Independent	3586	77.42%
Southern	1	Jassim Al Saeedi		Independent	2538	62.71%
	2	Abdullah Huwail		Independent	1194	52.44%
	3	Ahmed Al Mulla		Independent	968	30.6%	2012	71.99%
	4	Abdullah Al Dossari		Independent	Win by default
	5	Khamis Al Rumaihi		Independent	Win by default
	6	Lateefa Al Gaood		Independent	Win by default
Source: Bahrain Commission for Legislation and Legal Opinion and Alwasat Newspaper

Reactions

Shia cleric and MP Sheikh Ali Salman lauded the result and called for a "more positive" stance from the government. "The most important message for the government is that Al-Wefaq (INAA) is the largest political association in Bahrain. The people's will must be respected and dealt with positively."

Analysis

A local analyst, Obaidaly al-Obaidaly, said the press campaign that accompanied the arrests resulted in a favourable outcome for INAA. "The Shiites who were hesitant or intended to boycott the elections voted overwhelmingly in favour of Al-Wefaq, the representative of their community. Baqer al-Najar, a sociology professor at the University of Bahrain also said "The way the media handled the security situation which prevailed prior to the elections unexpectedly raised Al-Wefaq's shares. Shiites felt that they were targeted so they voted intensely for Al-Wefaq despite their restlessness with its performance throughout the past four years."

Aftermath

Following the 2011 Bahraini protests all 18 Al Wefaq's MPs resigned from parliament.