News / Persian Gulf

Parliamentary elections in Bahrain aimed at destroying democracy, prominent Shia cleric says

Thursday, 10 November 2022 7:16 AM [ Last Update: Thursday, 10 November 2022 8:12 AM ]

Bahrain’s most prominent cleric Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim (Photo via Twitter)

Bahrain’s most prominent Shia cleric has called for a boycott of the country’s forthcoming parliamentary elections, saying the sham vote is meant to "slaughter democracy" in the Persian Gulf kingdom, as the ruling Al Khalifah regime is insistently exercising its heavy-handed crackdown on dissent.

Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Isa Qassim in a post published on his Twitter page reiterated his call on people from all strata of the Bahraini society to boycott the elections, stating that voter participation would not result in the consolidation of democracy in Bahrain as communities are largely excluded from the political process.

“How would it be possible to strengthen democracy [in Bahrain], whilst elections have originally been designed to destroy it? This is an election whose doors are closed to those who seek democracy,” he underlined.

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Protesters in Bahrain continue to stage rallies to condemn and boycott what they call sham parliamentary elections planned for next week.

The distinguished Shia cleric highlighted that “The right decision is to boycott participation in the upcoming elections. In that case, democracy would not completely disappear and dictatorship would not become more institutionalized.”

Earlier, Sheikh Qassim had stated that the Manama regime wants to maintain its grip on power and strengthen tyranny in Bahrain by means of the ballots cast in the elections.

“Elections in Bahrain are only meant to reinforce tyranny, and people play into the hands of the ruling regime and are treated as playthings,” the prominent Shia cleric tweeted on November 2.

“Does common sense dictate participation in such elections?” he questioned.

Bahrain’s main opposition group, the al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, has already called for a boycott of the upcoming parliamentary elections in the country, amid an escalation of political repression and absence of meaningful reforms.

Six opposition groups in Bahrain announce boycotting elections

Bahraini opposition groups say the elections are "a sham process that lacks legitimacy and popular representation."

In a statement released on September 14, al-Wefaq described the boycott of November 12 polls as a national duty, emphasizing that the ruling Manama regime maintains absolute control over the electoral process and seeks to install a weak legislature, whose main task would be to burnish the image of the corrupt Al Khalifah dynasty and cover up its human rights abuses.

It added that the constitutional and political rift between the Bahraini regime and the nation is deepening day by day, the main reason for which, it said, is the lack of any social agreement between the two sides.

In the absence of a real administration, the Al Khalifah regime continues its authoritarian rule by imposing its political, economic, security and social wills on the Bahraini nation, al-Wefaq said.

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