MANAMA: Political posters are sprouting in Bahrain ahead of elections next week that lack luster despite security fears and sectarian tensions fuelled by the arrest of Shia activists.
Analysts say campaigning in the Sunni-ruled Gulf kingdom for the October 23 legislative and municipal elections has been lower key than in 2006, when four opposition groups which boycotted 2002 polls took part for the first time.
"In 2006, the campaign was animated" by the participation of the opposition, which gave it "more enthusiasm and competition," said Baqer al-Najjar, an analyst at Bahrain University.
"There are fewer candidates this time," he said, citing "the security situation as one of the causes" of the subdued run-up to polling day.
Despite a lack of incidents of unrest reported in past weeks, security forces have been deployed at the entrances to some Shia-majority areas, residents say.
Bahrain’s ruler, King Hamad, said in early September that his small archipelago state must "mobilize to protect against sedition … and to resist violence and terrorism."
But rights group Amnesty International has accused the authorities in the Shia-majority kingdom of carrying out an intensifying "clampdown … on Shia opposition and human rights activists in the run-up" to the elections.
Twenty-one Shia activists were arrested in August, and last month 23 were charged — the 21 and another two in absentia — with forming a "terror network" aimed at toppling the Sunni-dominated government.
"Many of those detained have been held incommunicado amid reports of torture and other abuse," according to Amnesty.
The government also announced last month that it aims to reassert state control over mosques in Bahrain, and it banned religious candidates from preaching in mosques ahead of the vote.
In September, Bahraini authorities stripped high-ranking Shia cleric Ayatollah Hussein Mirza Najati of his citizenship for "violation of the law on nationality," according to local media reports.
Najati is "the principal representative in Bahrain of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani," the highest-ranking Shia cleric in Iraq, Sistani’s office in the Iraqi holy city of Najaf said.
In campaigning for this election, Najjar said, the opposition seems to have lost some of its momentum.
"Its tone has changed," he said, adding that by participating in the political process, opposition groups appear to have become "more realistic."
Najjar also said that Bahrainis’ concerns about everyday problems could lead to "a parliament of services," composed of members elected on the basis of what they can do for their constituencies rather than their political affiliation.
He expects "surprises" in the composition of the new parliament.
The last round of legislative and municipal elections in 2006 were won by Islamist groups in Bahrain, which has no official political parties.
Both Najjar and Obeidally Al-Obeidally, an analyst and writer, said they expect independent candidates to gain ground against groupings which were successful four years ago.
"I expect some of these groups to lose seats" in favour of "independent Islamists," Najjar said.
Obeidally predicted that "new faces not linked to political groups will enter the chamber."
During the 1990s, Bahrain was plagued by a wave of Shia-led unrest which has since abated after the authorities launched steps to convert the Gulf emirate into a constitutional monarchy.
The kingdom’s 40-member elected chamber has the authority to examine and pass legislation proposed by the king or cabinet, and it also has monitoring powers.
However, a 40-member Majlis ash-Shura, or consultative council appointed by the king, has the power to block legislation coming from the lower house.
Almost all political groups are to contest this month’s elections, except the Association of Islamic Action and the banned Movement of Liberties and Democracy (Haq), to which most of the 23 suspects arrested in August belong.
About 318,000 Bahrainis are eligible to vote in the polls, according to government figures.
