Bahrain Uncovered pt 2: Divided Political Landscape

By Anissa Haddadi: Subscribe to Anissa's RSS feed

February 10, 2012 2:59 AM EST

Despite being a small island the Gulf state of Bahrain benefits from a relatively vibrant civil society - but activists want more freedom. The first anniversary of pro-democracy protests on 14 January are increasing tensions.

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In the 1950s the country went through a series of popular uprisings against the British presence. Pressure from the grass roots led to the 1973 constitution and a partially elected national assembly with limited political powers was set up to calm the unrest.

But positive reforms were short-lived and in 1975 the government suspended the constitution under the State Security Law. The restrictions were to last for more than a quarter of a century.

In 2002, the new king, Hamad al-Khalifa, brought in a general amnesty, dissolved the State Security Courts, abrogated the State Security Law and promised more democratic reforms.

The Bahrain National Action Charter, approved a year earlier on 14 February, 2001, incorporated the amended part of the suspended 1973 constitution and introduced a two-chamber system comprising an elected lower and an appointed upper council. Executive power remained in the king's hands and he retained the right to appoint all ministers.

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But the optimism surrounding the reforms has evaporated and most of the current dissatisfaction revolves around King Hamad's unfulfilled promise of political reforms.

Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society

Al-Wefaq was founded on 7 November, 2001, as an umbrella groups of different political and religious strands of the Shia community. It represent the largest opposition group.

The government has accused Al-Wefaq of plotting with Iran to overthrow the Bahrain regime. The accusations have been denied.

"Al -Wefaq is not trying to reproduce the Iranian model in Bahrain. One of its main demands is not the overthrow of the regime but a transfer to constitutional monarchy," explains member Ali Alaswad , a former MP. "Our main concern is that executive power is concentrated in the king's hands.

"We just want to have an elected government, an elected prime minister. What is irrational in that?

"Members of the opposition and protesters are paying the price for speaking up. We cannot continue having a prime minister who is appointed by the king forever. The population needs to be more involved in the political sphere."

Al-Wefaq has signed the Manama document, a set of demands for constituional reform, with other opposition groups including the National Democratic Action Society (Waad), the Nationalist Democratic Assembly, the National Democratic Assemblage and Al-Ekha National Society.

While much has been said about Al-Wefaq less is known about Bahrain's other political societies and groups:

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