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Abdul Ghani al-Khanjar, spokesman for the Haq Civil Liberties and Democracy Movement, said the Nov. 12 elections were largely boycotted by opposition groups, nationalist and Islamic movements and people from all walks of life.
“The most important reason for boycotting the elections is that the legislature in Bahrain is a complete farce, the result of a constitution without consent. Therefore, bills and legislation passed by such a parliament are harmful to our country,” he said.
“For many years, the Bahraini Parliament has been the venue for passing laws that are seriously harmful to our people. This phony parliament was established by the ruling regime in an incredibly repressive environment. This means that our young people cannot participate in parliament, Because it introduces unjust laws that harm the country at the domestic and international levels,” Khanjar stressed.
A senior Bahraini opposition figure pointed out, “Our people’s main demand is to establish the right to determine their own destiny, and the people must be the source of national power and benefit from freedom of opinion and expression, as well as civil rights. Freedom.”
“There are also calls for an end to sectarianism and repressive measures in the country. Several initiatives have been put forward by opposition groups. Actionable proposals have been made by movements such as the Youth League, Bahrain Freedom Movement and Haq Civil Liberties and Democracy Movement on February 14, and Urge a new constitution that empowers people to determine the political structure of the country and empowers the governing body with its aspirations,” Khanjat noted.
“The Bahraini regime abused the recent elections to glorify its international image and support the normalization of its diplomatic relations with the Israeli regime. The new parliament will definitely be worse than its predecessor,” he said.
Bahrain held parliamentary elections on Saturday in what human rights groups described as “political repression” under Khalifa’s regime.
More than 330 candidates, including 73 women, are vying to join the 40-seat House of Representatives, the lower house of parliament.
“This election is not going to bring any change,” said Ali Abdulmaum, a Bahraini human rights activist based in Britain.
“Without the opposition, we would not have a healthy country,” he told AFP.
The restrictions sparked calls for a boycott of Saturday’s election, which took place more than a decade after a popular uprising in 2011.
Since then, authorities have jailed hundreds of dissidents — including Wefaq leader Sheikh Ali Salman — and stripped them of many of their citizenships.
The international human rights group argued that the vote took place in a “politically repressive environment”.
Citing data from Bahraini civil society, rights groups say the retroactive ban affects between 6,000 and 11,000 Bahraini citizens.
They said the election had “little hope for any freer and fairer outcome”.
Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates signed a U.S.-brokered normalization agreement with Israel at an event in Washington in September 2020. Sudan and Morocco followed suit later that year. Palestinians denounced the deals as a “stab in the back” of perfidy.
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