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All 40 seats in the Council of Representatives | |||||
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Judiciary |
Administrative divisions (governorates) |
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General elections were held in Bahrain on 12 November 2022 to elect the 40 members of the Council of Representatives, with a second round in some constituencies on 19 November. [1]
The elections were condemned domestically and internationally as a sham. Rights groups condemned the atmosphere of "political repression". The Bahrain Institute for Rights and Democracy, based in London, called it a "sham", and Amnesty International stated that the elections were "held in an environment of political repression following a decade in which the authorities have infringed upon human rights, curtailed civil society, banned political opposition parties and shuttered independent media". [2] [3] They issued a report on the elections, "Bahrain: Elections, But No Civic Space" in which they stated that Bahrain's political system did not, in practice, allow citizens to peacefully and legally seek constitutional change. [4]
Domestically, there were advance calls for a boycott of the elections as in the 2018. [4] On election day hackers took down government websites, including the elections, parliamentary and state-news websites. A group calling itself "al-Touafan" ("the Flood") claimed responsibility for at least some of the attacks, saying they were "due to the persecution carried out by the Bahraini authorities, and in implementation of the popular will to boycott the sham elections". [5]
The 40 members of the Council of Representatives are elected from single-member constituencies using the two-round system; if no candidate receives a majority of the vote in the first round, a second round is held. [6]
Under the 2002 constitution, the council is the lower house of parliament, which examines and passes legislation proposed by the king and the king's appointed cabinet; the upper chamber, the Consultative Council, is appointed by the king and can block legislation passed by the lower house. [7]
Only Bahraini citizens are entitled to contest and vote in the elections. Many political dissidents active in previous elections were stripped of their Bahraini citizenship. [7] Citizens could also be disqualified from voting if they had been members of opposition parties and groups that the government had banned, if they had previously resigned from parliament, [4] or if they had been sentenced to more than six months in prison. [2] Many had been sentenced to terms more than six months for non-violent participation in the 2011 protests (the government estimates that over 300 protestors had been sentence to more than one year). [4] Voters who had not voted in previous elections were not included on the voter lists, but were eligible to register. [2] These rules disenfranchised 21.5% of Bahraini citizens, a higher proportion than in the 2018 elections; [4] in 2022 344,713 voters were eligible, down from 365,467 in 2018.
However, the electorate was less than a quarter of the population of 1.5 million, [5] as most residents do not have citizenship.
A total of 330 candidates contested the elections, of which 73 were women, an increase from 293 candidates in 2018. [8] Former members of Wa'd, al-Wefaq, and Amal, formerly-legal opposition parties, were banned from standing for election, and from taking leadership positions in civil society organisations. [3] This rule was estimated to affect 6,000-11,000 citizens according to Human Rights Watch. [8]
The government banned all false or confusing statements that could affect the election, and all unlicensed public gatherings, and demonstrations, with sentences of two years for violations. This included any "gathering in a public place, composed of at least five people, with the goal of... infringing on public order, even to achieve a legitimate purpose". [4]
Two months before the election, the government introduced new legislation that banned electoral activity that "infringes on public security or public morals or religious beliefs or the customs prevalent in society", or "infringing on the Islamic creed or the unity of the people, or that incites division or sectarianism between citizens". Bahrainis were also forbidden from "organizing and holding meetings and giving election speeches" in "houses of worship", "public places reserved for public services", any educational institution, and at "statues... and historic buildings". [4] Amnesty International stated "These highly restrictive measures quash much of the scope for the exercise of the human rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, association, and public participation" in the election. [3]
No media critical of the government had been permitted in Bahrain since the government shut down the newspaper al-Wasat in June 2017. [3]
A demonstration calling for a boycott of the election was held in the town of Sanabis on 18 October. [4] Protests against the election were also held during a visit by Pope Francis [9] less than a week before the election. [8]
Hackers took down election-related government websites on election day. A group calling itself "al-Touafan" ("the Flood") claimed responsibility for at least some of the attacks, saying they were "due to the persecution carried out by the Bahraini authorities, and in implementation of the popular will to boycott the sham elections". [5]
Citing the non-democratic nature of the election, the US was urged to pivot away from its close relationship with Bahrain by the Baharani-American human rights group Americans for Democracy & Human Rights in Bahrain (ADHRB)
On election day, a government spokesman, responding to criticisms of the process, described Bahrain as a "vibrant democracy". [8]
Six candidates, one of them female, were announced to have won seats in the first round; the remaining seats had to be contested in second-round runoff votes. [10] The government reported that turnout among eligible voters was 73%, up from 67% in the 2018 election. [8]
Politics of Bahrain has since 2002 taken place in a framework of a constitutional monarchy where the government is appointed by the King of Bahrain, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. The head of the government since 2020 is Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who became Prime Minister following the death of Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and who also serves as Deputy Commander of the Bahrain Defence Force. The parliament is a bicameral legislature, with the Council of Representatives elected by universal suffrage, and the Consultative Council appointed directly by the king.
The National Democratic Labour Action Society – Wa'ad is Bahrain's largest leftist political party.
Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, sometimes shortened to simply Al-Wefaq, was a Shi'a Bahraini political party, that operates clandestinely after being ordered by the highest court in Bahrain to be dissolved and liquidated. Although from 2006 to 2011 it was by far the single largest party in the Bahraini legislature, with 18 representatives in the 40-member Bahraini parliament, it was often outvoted by coalition blocs of opposition Sunni parties and independent MPs reflecting gerrymandering of electoral districts. On 27 February 2011, the 18 Al-Wefaq members of parliament submitted letters of resignation to protest regime violence against pro-reform Bahraini protestors.
The Bahrain Centre for Human Rights was a Bahraini non-profit non-governmental organisation which works to promote human rights in Bahrain, which was founded by a number of Bahraini activists in June 2002. The centre was given a dissolution order after its former president Abdulhadi Al Khawaja was arrested in September 2004 a day after criticizing the country's Prime Minister, Khalifah ibn Sulman Al Khalifah at a seminar in which he blamed the Prime Minister for the failure of widespread economic development for all citizens. The BCHR is still banned by the government, but has remained very active.
Following Bahrain's independence from the British in 1971, the government of Bahrain embarked on an extended period of political suppression under a 1974 State Security Law shortly after the adoption of the country's first formal Constitution in 1973. Overwhelming objections to state authority resulted in the forced dissolution of the National Assembly by Amir Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa and the suspension of the Constitution until 2001. The State Security Law of 1974 was a law used by the government of Bahrain to crush political unrest from 1974 until 2001. It was during this period that the worst human rights violations and torture were said to have taken place. The State Security Law contained measures permitting the government to arrest and imprison individuals without trial for a period of up to three years for crimes relating to state security. A subsequent Decree to the 1974 Act invoked the establishment of State Security Courts, adding to the conditions conducive to the practice of arbitrary arrest and torture. The deteriorating human rights situation in Bahrain is reported to have reached its height in the mid-1990s when thousands of men, women and children were illegally detained, reports of torture and ill-treatment of detainees were documented, and trials fell short of international standards.
The Council of Representatives, sometimes translated as the "Chamber of Deputies", is the name given to the lower house of the Bahraini National Assembly, the national legislative body of Bahrain.
The 1990s uprising in Bahrain also known as the uprising of dignity was an uprising in Bahrain between 1994 and 1999 in which leftists, liberals and Islamists joined forces to demand democratic reforms. The uprising caused approximately forty deaths and ended after Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa became the Emir of Bahrain in 1999 and a referendum on 14–15 February 2001 massively supported the National Action Charter. The uprising resulted in the deaths of around 40 civilians and at least one Bahraini soldier.
General elections were held in Bahrain in November and December 2006 to elect the forty members of the Council of Representatives. The first round of voting was held on 25 November, with a second round on 2 December 2006.
Bahrain's record on human rights has been described by Human Rights Watch as "dismal", and having "deteriorated sharply in the latter half of 2010". Their subsequent report in 2020 noted that the human rights situation in the country had not improved.
Abdulhadi Abdulla Hubail al-Khawaja is a Bahraini political activist. On 22 June 2011, al-Khawaja and eight others were sentenced to life imprisonment following the suppression of pro-democracy protests against the Bahraini government. Al-Khawaja has previously gone on a series of hunger strikes while serving his life sentence, in protest of the political conditions in Bahrain.
In the 2000s in Bahrain the government instituted political reforms and relaxed economic controls.
General elections were held in Bahrain in October 2010 to elect the forty members of the Council of Representatives. The first round of voting was held on 23 October, with a second round on 30 October. Amidst boycotts and arrests, Al Wefaq won 18 of the 40 seats. Four women were elected.
The 2011Bahraini uprising was a series of anti-government protests in Bahrain led by the Shia-dominant and some Sunni minority Bahraini opposition from 2011 until 2014. The protests were inspired by the unrest of the 2011 Arab Spring and protests in Tunisia and Egypt and escalated to daily clashes after the Bahraini government repressed the revolt with the support of the Gulf Cooperation Council and Peninsula Shield Force. The Bahraini protests were a series of demonstrations, amounting to a sustained campaign of non-violent civil disobedience and some violent resistance in the Persian Gulf country of Bahrain. As part of the revolutionary wave of protests in the Middle East and North Africa following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia, the Bahraini protests were initially aimed at achieving greater political freedom and equality for the 70% Shia population.
Eighteen parliamentary by-elections were held in Bahrain in 2011 following the resignation of 18 MPs from the largest political party in parliament, Al Wefaq, in protest at governmental actions during the Bahraini uprising. Security forces closed Pearl Roundabout and attacked protestors in the village of Sanabis. The elections were held using a two-round system, with the first round on 24 September and the second on 1 October 2011 in the constituencies where no candidate had received a majority of the vote in the first round.
The following is an incomplete timeline of events that followed the Bahraini uprising of 2011 from July to December 2011. This phase saw many popular protests, escalation in violence and the establishment of an independent government commission to look into the previous events.
The background of the Bahraini uprising dates back to the beginning of the twentieth century. The Bahraini people have protested sporadically throughout the last decades demanding social, economic and political rights. Demonstrations were present as early as the 1920s and the first municipal election was held in 1926. Ruled by Al Khalifas since 1783, Bahrain was a British protectorate for most of the twentieth century. The National Union Committee (NUC) formed in 1954 was the earliest serious challenge to the status quo. Two year after its formation, NUC leaders were imprisoned and deported by authorities.
The Bahrain Thirteen are thirteen Bahraini opposition leaders, rights activists, bloggers and Shia clerics arrested between 17 March and 9 April 2011 in connection with their role in the national uprising. In June 2011, they were tried by a special military court, the National Safety Court, and convicted of "setting up terror groups to topple the royal regime and change the constitution"; they received sentences ranging from two years to life in prison. A military appeal court upheld the sentences in September. The trial was "one of the most prominent" before the National Safety Court. A retrial in a civilian court was held in April 2012 but the accused were not released from prison. The sentences were upheld again on 4 September 2012. On 7 January 2013, the defendants lost their last chance of appeal when the Court of Cassation, Bahrain's top court upheld the sentences.
Matar Ebrahim Ali Matar is a Bahraini politician of the Al Wefaq party who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from October 2010 until his resignation in early 2011. Born in the village of Al Daih to a large family with diverse political views, Matar completed his secondary education in Bahrain and moved to Kuwait to pursue higher education. He remained there until 2002 when he returned to Bahrain and joined Al Wefaq political party. Matar was politically active, working within committees in the party and meeting with foreign officials. In 2010, he won with a large margin in the Parliamentary election, becoming the youngest of all MPs and representing the country's largest constituency.
General elections were held in Bahrain in November 2014 to elect the forty members of the Council of Representatives. The first round of voting took place on 22 November, with a second round on 29 November in the 34 constituencies in which no candidate received a majority.
General elections were held in Bahrain in November and December 2018 to elect the 40 members of the Council of Representatives. The first round of voting was on Saturday, 24 November, with a second round in 31 constituencies on Saturday, 1 December. A municipal poll coincided with the parliamentary vote.