Manama: A newly-elected Bahraini lawmaker who has not set foot inside the parliament yet on Saturday said that he has prepared seven questions for four ministers.
"I will be asking the housing minister three questions," Eisa Al Qadhi an independent candidate who won in the second round of the parliamentary elections on October 30, said. "They will be all related to the housing situation in Eisa Town and Zayed Town," he said. Both towns where the government had built hundreds of homes under the housing scheme, are located in the constituency carried by Al Qadhi after he beat Muneera Fakhroo, the candidate fielded by the National Democratic Action Society "Waad".
The other three ministers who will have to answer the queries are Majed Al Alawi, the education minister, Juma Al Ka’abi, the municipality and urban planning minister, and Fatima Al Beloushi, the social development minister.
Al Qadhi's statement about his intention to confront ministers with questions before the lower chamber convenes is likely to raise the stakes for independent candidates as they seek to assert themselves in the face of societies that overwhelmed parliament action in 2006-2010.
Of the three political societies that commanded 32 of the 40 seats in the previous term, only Al Wefaq has reinforced its position, gaining the 18 constituencies in which it fielded candidates. Al Asala, the expression of Salfism, and the Islamic Menbar, the Muslim Brotherhood offshoot, saw their numbers dwindle from eight to three and from seven to two respectively.
The independents who were eight in 2006 – 2010 have now 17 seats, making them the second largest bloc.
