A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Friday, October 22, 2010

Bahrain Election Day Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Bahrain holds Parliamentary elections. The main Shi‘ite opposition group, Al-Wefaq, is urging participation despite pressures against the Shi‘ite opposition. (Human Rights Watch here; Amnesty here; BBC here; The Economist here; Carnegie here. And an editorial (if just a tad patronizing in tone) in Bahrain's English Gulf Daily News here.

It's not looking like the most free-and-fair poll ever, but Bahrain is still fairly new at this, and whether there will be a real result remains to be seen. It is, however, important, for Bahrain of course, for Sunni-Shi‘ite relations in the Gulf, and for the Gulf's nascent Parliaments, few as they still are, generally.

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