A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, November 1, 2010

Bahrain Elections Round Two Results

The weekend saw the second round of the Bahrain elections and the final results for Parliament are pretty much those predictable from the first round. Another account here.

Al-Wifaq, the Shi‘ite bloc, won all 18 seats it contested in the first round, so that is unchanged. Two Islamist blocs, one generally Salafi and one with ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, garnered only five seats between them, down from 14 in the last Parliament. The leftist Wa‘ad, though two of its candidates survived into the second round, won no seats.

The big winners were the independents, who won 17 seats, up from nine.

One woman alreafdy in Parliament esd re-elected unopposed, and for the first time a woman was elected in the municipal council elections.


King Hamad has asked the Prime Minister, to form a new Cabinet. There are expected to be some changes in the Cabinet, including a new Oil and Gas Minister, according to press reports.

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