General elections were held in

Bahrain Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...

in October 2010 to elect the forty members of the Council of Representatives. The first round of voting was held on 23 October, with a second round on 30 October. Amidst boycotts and arrests,

Al Wefaq Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society (; ), sometimes shortened to simply Al-Wefaq, was a Shi'a Bahraini political party, that operates clandestinely after being ordered by the highest court in Bahrain to be dissolved and liquidated. Although from ...

won 18 of the 40 seats. Four women were elected.

Campaign

The main opposition party

Haq Movement The Haq Movement for Liberty and Democracy () is an opposition political organization in Bahrain founded in November 2005 with Hasan Mushaima as its secretary general. Several of its leaders were previously in the leadership of the Al Wefaq soc ...

and several other opposition parties such as the Al-Wafa Islamic Movement,

Bahrain Freedom Movement The Bahrain Freedom Movement () is a London-based Bahraini opposition group which has its headquarters in a north London mosque. Its main medium is the Voice of Bahrain website which was blocked for several years by Batelco, Bahrain's sole Inter ...

, Khalas Movement and

Islamic Action Society The Islamic Action Society ( ''Jamʿīyah al-ʿAmal al-ʾIslāmī''), sometimes shortened to ʿAmal (), was one of the main Islamist political parties in Bahrain, and mainly appealed to Shīʻa followers of the Islamic philosopher Mohammad Huss ...

called for a boycott of the elections, on the grounds that participation would be "tantamount to accepting the unjust sectarian apartheid system." There were also further arrests and repressions of the

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

majority. Shia political activists and international

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

watchdogs warned of a "drift back to full-blown authoritarianism." However, Foreign Minister Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad al-Khalifa claimed the arrests were "not linked to elections."

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

and the

Project on Middle East Democracy A project is a type of assignment, typically involving research or design, that is carefully planned to achieve a specific objective. An alternative view sees a project managerially as a sequence of events: a "set of interrelated tasks to be ...

noted government arrests and repressions ahead of the election. The head of the Al Wefaq party, Ali Salman, said the government should be shared with the people, in what was seen as an open challenge to the ruling

Al-Khalifa The House of Khalifa () is the ruling family of the Kingdom of Bahrain. They profess Sunni Islam and belong to the Anizah tribe. Some members of this tribe joined the Utub alliance which migrated from Najd in central Arabia to Kuwait, then rul ...

dynasty. "It is unacceptable that power be monopolised by a single family, even one to which we owe respect and consideration. We look forward to the day when any child of the people, be they Sunni or Shia, can become prime minister."Bahrainis Vote for New Parliament amid Political Tensions
Al-Manar, 23 October 2010

Conduct

A total of 292 Bahraini observers from non-governmental organizations monitored the elections, though foreign observers were not allowed. Allegations were made of problems on election day; Al Wefaq's Sheikh Ali Salman claimed at least 890 voters were not allowed to vote in mostly Shia districts because their names were absent from electoral lists. "This is not the full number. We expect it to be higher." The party tallied up the voters who said there were not allowed to vote, in order to use these numbers to challenge to the official results. The opposition also expressed concern that the authorities used the votes of

military personnel Military personnel or military service members are members of the state's armed forces. Their roles, pay, and obligations differ according to their military branch (army, navy, marines, coast guard, air force, and space force), rank ( office ...

in favour of some candidates at the expense of others in an "exploitation of general positions."

Results

More than 318,000 were eligible to vote.Parliament polls close in Bahrain
Al Jazeera, 23 October 2010 Head of the electoral commission and Justice Minister, Sheikh Khaled bin Ali al-Khalifa, gave an estimate of turnout of "at least 67 percent," less than the 72% in 2006 and 53.4% in 2002. 127 candidates stood in the election. Al Wefaq won 18 of the 40 seats, one more than the previous election.Bahrain's Opposition INAA Wins 18 Seats in Parliament
Al-Manar, 24 October 2010 Shia and independent candidates won a majority of seats for the first time.

Winning candidate by constituency

Reactions

Shia cleric and MP Sheikh Ali Salman lauded the result and called for a "more positive" stance from the government. "The most important message for the government is that Al Wefaq (INAA) is the largest political association in Bahrain. The people's will must be respected and dealt with positively."

Analysis

A local analyst, Obaidaly al-Obaidaly, said the press campaign that accompanied the arrests resulted in a favourable outcome for Al Wefaq. "The Shiites who were hesitant or intended to boycott the elections voted overwhelmingly in favour of Al Wefaq, the representative of their community. Baqer al-Najar, a sociology professor at the

University of Bahrain The University of Bahrain (), often abbreviated as UOB, is a public university in Bahrain. Established by royal decree in 1986, it has since become the largest institution of higher education in Bahrain, with three campuses ( Sakhir, Isa Town, an ...

also said "The way the media handled the security situation which prevailed prior to the elections unexpectedly raised Al Wefaq's shares. Shiites felt that they were targeted so they voted intensely for Al Wefaq despite their restlessness with its performance throughout the past four years."

Aftermath

Following the

2011 Bahraini protests The 2011 Bahraini uprising was a series of anti-government protests in Bahrain led by the mainly Shia and some Sunni Islam, Sunni Bahraini opposition primarily from 2011 until 2014. The protests were inspired by the unrest of the 2011 Arab Spri ...

, all 18 Al Wefaq MPs resigned from parliament.Bahraini woman dies 'during protest'
Al Jazeera, 16 July 2011

References

{{Bahraini elections Elections in Bahrain

General elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

National Assembly (Bahrain) Election and referendum articles with incomplete results