Stage set to change face of Bahrain political scene

Manama: Tomorrow's Parliamentary elections are widely expected to change the face of Bahrain's politics as the opposition is set to win the majority of seats of the Council of Representatives, controlled for the past four years by a strong pro-government block.

However, a victory by the opposition, many in this open-minded and multicultural state fear, may deal a significant blow to the country's withering liberal tradition.

The Islamists, led by Bahrain's biggest Islamic society, Al Wefaq, are coming, warns a leading liberal activist.

The liberal elite are worried the upcoming Parliament "will restrict whatever personal freedoms may have been left" in a country where the people are used to a Western-like lifestyle, said Abdullah Al Madani.

More than 30 Islamist candidates are expected to win seats, including 17 from Al Wefaq, a Shiite group, and six from the Sunni Salafi group Al Assalah.

Among Al Wefaq candidates, five are clerics who wear the religious turban.

Legislations that could restrict personal freedoms would be the last of Al Wefaq's concerns in the upcoming legislature, according to the group leader, Shaikh Ali Salman, a leading local cleric who is running in the first district of the Northern Governorate.

"Personal freedom issues are not on the top of our agenda," he told reporters at the elections committee press centre yesterday.

But such statements spark fears among liberals who cite Al Wefaq's opposition two years ago to a new personal status code.

The proposed law was a major contention between the government and Shiite clerics who argued the code, which would regulate marriage, divorce and inheritance, should be defined by religious authorities.

During the last legislative session, a number of Islamist MPs also tried unsuccessfully to ban alcohol. Bahrain, the headquarters of the United States Fifth Fleet and a number of international banking organisations, depends on its hospitality sector for a good part of its revenues.

Bahrain cannot afford to loose its liberal tendencies, said Al Madani. "Bahrain has changed a lot over the past two decades. For example, inter-sect marriages [between Shiites and Sunnis] were common. Today, sectarian quarrels are the norm. But both currents are united in their quest to control society and impose their own version of social behaviour," he explained.

The liberals, even though under attack, are not taking the punches lying down. They are fighting hard to preserve Bahrain's open-society image.

Al Madani and fellow activists recently launched a movement called Lana Haq [We have a right] to defend personal freedoms and confront "totalitarian" ideologies.

The movement stood up against a proposal by an Islamist MP to establish a Saudi-type "committee to spread virtue and prevent vice". The proposal was not endorsed by the parliament.

Islamists argue personal freedoms are protected by the constitutions.

One thing is sure: Bahrain politics will have a different face on Sunday.