Today – Nov 25th, 2006 – Bahrainis of all walks of life head to cast their ballot in Parliamentary and Municipal polls to elect those who they feel is worthy of representing them for the next four years, with runoffs scheduled for Dec 2nd.
The elections this time around are vastly different from 2002 as this time all but one political society have decided to participate, and as those societies contesting are the largest in Bahrain and their programs and agendas are non-sectarian, well thought out and achievable, we can rest assured that the new parliament when it is finally declared by Dec 3rd will be much more representative of the people and it will elevate the quality of life of Bahrainis and residents alike.
My optimism is further strengthened by the number of liberals contesting the polls with good chances of winning, if the numbers of people turning up at their campaigns headquarters is anything to go by.
The Islamists, I feel, are on a losing streak. Apart from the fact that Bahrainis are generally unhappy with their performance in the last parliament, Islamists ran the dirtiest campaigns ever known here; they have been accused of offering bribes, maligning their competitors, spreading malicious rumours, and generally involving themselves in everything against the teachings of Islam, which they have sworn to protect!
I firmly believe that nationalist heros like Abdulrahman Al-Noaimi, Ibrahim Sharif, Munira Fakhro, Sami Siadi, Ali Saleh, Ebrahim Kamaleddin of Wa’ad, and Ali Al-Ayoubi and the rest of his Unity coalition will be champions of personal freedoms, freedom of speech, human and women’s rights, all of which were suppressed in the previous parliament, thanks to mainly those forces of darkness, the misguided Islamists, 19 of whom have been inducted into the Hall of Shame, thanks to the research conducted by the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.
I really hope and pray for a better Bahrain for all Bahrainis, and hope that the new parliament will be the nucleus of change for the better, one that will put paid to the dangerous sectarian rifts in this country, and one that will work to make us proud, once again, to be Bahraini.
Good luck Bahrain. I wish you all the best.
Comments
The New York Times has this article about the elections in today’s edition:
[link]
<admin> edited original message to reformat offered link
THEY HAVE FREE 3A9EER AWAL THERE! WOW!
huh? care to translate?
The link to the hall of shame does not seem to be working, shame as I would have liked to add to it…btw, I think he meant that they were giving away free juice…
ahhh, “aseer”, okay, I get it now. thanks.
The link does work but as the BCHR’s site is blocked you can’t get to it directly. You need to something to help you get there…
okay, try now…
Hopefully you are right about the islamist losing ground, because the alternative is depressing. It’s important for Bahrainis to understand that it is in their best interest in the long run to be politically active now; once the wall has been chipped away, it will be more difficult for the islamist to continue to gain ground and gain control.
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