Gulf | Bahrain
Al Wefaq hints at boycott of 2010 polls
Al Wefaq leader Shaikh Ali Salman has again hinted that his society would boycott the 2010 elections if the current parliament failed to meet the people's expectations.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 21:14 March 24, 2008
- Shaikh Ali Salman has again hinted that his society would boycott the 2010 elections if the current parliament failed to meet the people's expectations.
- Image Credit: Gulf News Archive
Manama: Al Wefaq leader Shaikh Ali Salman has again hinted that his society would boycott the 2010 elections if the current parliament failed to meet the people's expectations.
"There are serious issues that need to be tackled so that the parliament can proceed according to the hopes of the people.
"Unfortunately, there is a drive to limit the monitoring role of the MPs on national issues. There is also a long annual break of five months. This of course does not help advance the work of the parliament at a time when we are under pressure from the people to deliver. If we cannot meet their expectations and cannot convince them of the success of the experiment, then we might as well be outside Parliament," Salman said.
"We at Al Wefaq had to face divisiveness after we agreed to contest the legislative elections, and we cannot afford to disappoint those who supported us," he said at a public meeting in Muharraq on Sunday evening.
The society, the largest of the Bahrain's political societies, boycotted the 2002 elections to demand for greater constitutional reforms, but took part in the 2006 elections, winning 17 of the 40 seats. A group of members who opposed the participation broke away from the society in 2005.
But Al Wefaq is now having major problems pushing through the grilling of State minister for Cabinet affairs Shaikh Ahmad Bin Atiyatallah Al Khalifa whom it suspects of financial irregularities.
The other blocs and independent MPs claim that the questioning is unconstitutional and is motivated by personal grudges against the minister whose name was mentioned in an alleged plot to rig the elections.
The dispute has fractured the lower house and has frozen it for the last four weeks.
"I am pained by what is happening, and I know that there are many pressing matters that we should debate. But if we cannot question the minister, we will be giving up our right to fight corruption and we will lose a major component of democracy," Salman said.
The MP warned against shrouding the dispute over the grilling in sectarianism, saying that it was a political issue.
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