Bahraini Parliamentary Elections and their Impact on the Popular

Abstract

الخلاصة Bahraini Parliamentary Elections and their Impact on the Popular Uprising) Bahrain has a distinguished constitutional and parliamentary experience, which distinct it from the other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Its experience in this area is the second after the experience of Kuwait to establish a system of government based on modern constitutional principles. As the government presented the Constitution to the Constituent Assembly elected by people and approved in 09/06/1973. After that, it witnessed the birth of the first parliament elected by the people in 1973, but the experiment did not last long and the parliament dissolved by Prince, and didn’t determine the period of the return of the working with the terms of the Constitution governing the functioning of the legislative process in Bahrain. Since 1975, the date of the dissolution of the National Bahrain council, Bahrain witnessed a wave of protests and sit-ins condemning its policy of rejecting the modus of the government, which did not subside even after trying to find specific Council appointed by the Prince, who has the Advisory power. The events of disagreement and dissatisfaction continued by some opponents parties and personalities, which always demand the return of the 1973 Constitution, despite reforms initiated by Sheikh (Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa) in 2000, and using the National Action Charter, which some counted it as a positive step followed by other steps, that distinguished Bahrain from its neighboring Gulf countries. As a result, Bahrain has witnessed the return of the legislative elections in 2002, despite the county of the political associations which has weight in the representation of Bahrain’s street as well as some opponents figures, who tried to use any opportunity to reject and try to make their voice reach all platforms and religious media, or try to send petitions to the king himself to respond to their demands. The government's reaction about this was; indifference and tried to silence the voice of opposition by arrests or by putting the responsibility on the outside parties for all these protests and sit-ins. When these opponents parties entered the legislative elections in 2010/2006, they got a large percentage of the vote that enabled them to prove their power in the political domain. The government tries in different ways to keep equilibrium between them and the number of these parties. In the other way the government could not deny the existence or the actions of these parties, the Bahraini government must put in consideration the opponents’ popularity before doing a particular deed against them, especially as we witnessed a wave of protests and sit-ins in many Arab cities demanding change and reform. Some of these cities succeed in changing regimes as in the case of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya, and Yemen. Bahrain government should learn from all of this, and complete what it started in the field of reform and change, and not limit itself to change from the republic to the Kingdom. The change should be comprehensive and effective particularly with regard to the performance of the legislature power and the involvement of all classes of people in the process of political decision-making and improve the conditions of the poor people