Elections in Non-Democratic Bahrain Meaningless: Opposition Figure

Speaking to Tasnim, Rashed al-Rashed slammed the Al Khalifa regime’s continued crackdown on the people of the Persian Gulf country by security forces and foreign forces and described Manama’s calls for participation in the elections as “meaningless and a theatrical move to decorate tyranny”.

“In democratically ruled countries, where people are the main source of power, ballot boxes naturally play a vital role in running the affairs of the country and votes represent the opinion of the majority but in Bahrain, where the nation and opposition are suppressed and there are over 7,000 political prisoners, including prominent opposition figures, and the citizenships of political activists are revoked, ballot boxes are meaningless,” he stressed. 

“The Al Khalifa regime has no legitimacy to govern Bahrain,” the opposition figure said, adding, “The people’s revolution against the (ruling) dynasty has continued for 7 years and these issues call into question the whole process of holding elections.”

The Bahraini regime plans to hold a parliamentary election on November 24, the second ballot since 2011 when mostly Shiite protesters took to the streets demanding democracy.

Bahrain, a close ally of the US in the Persian Gulf region, has been witnessing almost daily protests against the ruling Al Khalifa dynasty since early 2011, with Manama using heavy-handed measures in an attempt to crush the demonstrations.

Scores of Bahrainis have been killed and hundreds of others injured and arrested in the ongoing crackdown on the peaceful demonstrations.

Amnesty International and many other international rights organizations have frequently censured the Bahraini regime for the rampant human rights abuses against opposition groups and anti-regime protesters.

Since the 1980s, the ruling Al Khalifa regime has been trying to change the Kingdom’s demographic structure which largely consists of Shiites.