Early returns in Bahrain's first polls since 1973 show wins by secularists and Islamists

25/10/2002| IslamWeb

Results from Bahrain's first legislative elections in nearly 30 years showed a mix of secularist and Islamic candidates winning seats, with two women securing places in run-off polls, officials said Friday. The election was a milestone for women as it marked the first time they had been empowered to vote and run for national office in a Gulf Arab nation.

It was also a defeat for a boycott campaign that had argued the political reform process did not go far enough.

The Justice Ministry said that 19 candidates had been elected to the 40-seat parliament, including three who ran unopposed. The remaining 21 seats will be decided in run-off elections scheduled for Oct. 31.

No woman won outright in Thursday's polls, but two women are among the 42 candidates who will contest the run-offs.

The elections themselves were celebrated as a major step toward democracy in Bahrain, a tiny island kingdom in a region dominated by traditional rulers. Hundreds of Bahrainis drove around the capital in the dark hours of Friday morning after Information Minister Nabil al-Hamer said the turnout was 53.2 percent.

The turnout was a slight improvement on the 51 percent recorded in the municipal elections in May.

Sheik Ali Salman, the leader of the Shiite Muslim group that spearheaded the boycott call, Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, conceded Friday that the elections were "fair overall."

"I congratulate the king on this democratic initiative," Salman said, speaking to The Associated Press on the phone from neighboring Qatar, where he flew Friday morning for a television broadcast.

People took to the streets of Manama blaring car horns and waving national flags and posters of the king, Sheik Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

"This is a victory for our nation," said Hadi al-Naem, a pedestrian who cheered the passing cars.

It was difficult to say whether secular or Islamic fundamentalist candidates were in the majority of the 19 elected legislators as most are new faces whose views are not known outside their districts.

At least seven of the new legislators are known to be Islamic fundamentalists. The remaining 12 ran as independents, suggesting they are likely to be of secular orientation as they were not backed by Islamic groups.

Bahrain is the headquarters of the U.S. 5th Fleet and a strategic base for the American military presence in the Gulf.

The women who won places in the run-offs were Latifa al-Qaoud, who seeks to represent a southern province, and Fouzia Ahmed Ruwaie, from a northern, predominantly Shiite Muslim province.

Al-Qaoud, 46, is a single woman who heads the planning and development department in the Ministry of Finance. She holds an MBA degree from Nottingham University in Britain and pledged to uplift the status of Bahraini women.

Al-Qaoud said Friday she was looking forward to the run-offs: "I am extremely confident and, God willing, God willing, I will win."

The elections, and the earlier municipal polls, are part of the democratization process initiated by Sheik Hamad after he ascended the throne in 1999 following his father's death. Last year, Bahrainis overwhelmingly endorsed a national charter that spelled out the reform program. In February, Sheik Hamad declared a constitutional monarchy and called legislative elections - the first since 1973.

Al-Wefaq and three other groups had urged a boycott because the parliament's second chamber - a council appointed by the king - will have as much power as the elected assembly.

Salman cast doubt on the accuracy of the 53.2 percent turnout, saying he had expected a turnout of 25 percent and his group's monitors had estimated it to be about 40 percent.

Salman said the electorate had been influenced by the king, who appealed to citizens to vote in a televised address on Monday. He also thought the turnout had been reinforced by "allowing the military to participate and by stamping the passports of Bahrainis who voted."

He said the stamping of passports, used as identification, had "put psychological pressure on the citizens to participate."
But the pro-boycott groups were "part of the nation's democratic march and will continue to work toward it from outside the parliament," Salman said.

Fatima Abdul Aziz, 70, one of several people who stood in a women-only line to vote, said Thursday she would not be intimidated by the anti-election campaign in her village of Karranah, outside the capital Manama.

"I was asked by people to boycott, but I told them to get lost," she said.

The boycott call was strongest among Shiite Muslims, who form a slight majority of the kingdom's 400,000 citizens. The ruling family are Sunni Muslims, the mainstream sect of Islam.

Bahrain went through a wave of political turbulence after 1994 when Shiites took to the streets to press for democracy and an end to their perceived discrimination in state jobs and services. More than 40 people were killed. The campaign quieted down after Sheik Hamad took power. He pardoned more than 1,000 political prisoners and allowed exiles to return.

The parliament's term is four years.

PHOTO CAPTION

Bahrain Prime Minister Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman al Khalifa casts his ballot at a polling station in the town of Riffa October 24, 2002 during parliamentary elections in the Gulf kingdom. Bahrainis began voting on Thursday for their first parliament in nearly three decades but an opposition boycott and sectarian tensions have clouded prospects for this historic election. (Chris Helgren/Reuters)