Members of European Parliament Urges Bahrain King to Release Political Prisoners Tuesday 10 March 2020 Alwaght- Forty-four Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) urged Bahraini King to release of political prisoners, and embark on an honest and comprehensive dialogue with the opposition in order to ensure economic sustainability in the tiny Persian Gulf kingdom. [4] In December 1994, a group of youths threw stones at female runners for running bare-legged during an international marathon. [2]. [1] The head of the government since 1971 has been Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and the Crown Prince is Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who also serves as Deputy Commander of the Bahrain Defence Force. A popular uprising occurred between 1994 and 2000 in which leftists, liberals and Islamists joined forces. The parliament is a bi-cameral legislature, with the Council of Representatives elected by universal suffrage, and the Consultative Council (also called the Shura Council) appointed directly by the king. An elected representative body was not reintroduced until the rule of Sheikh Isa's son, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, who succeeded as head of state in 1999, and initiated wide-ranging political reforms scrapping the restrictive state security laws, giving women the right to vote, freeing all political prisoners and holding parliamentary elections. U.S. Assistance to Bahrain U.S. assistance enables the Government of Bahrain to continue to obtain the equipment and training it requires to provide for its own defense and to operate alongside U.S. air and naval forces. Article 42 It is also the executive governing body of the country. Those MPs who do not have an Islamic ideological agenda have been criticised for tending to approach politics not as a way of promoting principles, but as a means of securing government jobs and investment in their constituencies. The Council of Representatives has the power to vote against a royal decree. In her 20 minute speech, Moitra attacked the central government on several matters. (Sir William Luce Fellowship Paper No. The latest, breaking international news from Gulf News, the UAE's No.1 English speaking newspaper To revitalise the Left before the September 2006 general election, leading lawyer, Abdullah Hashem launched the National Justice Movement in March 2006. The first poll was the 2002 Bahraini general election, with MPs serving four‑year terms; the second parliamentary election was the 2006 Bahraini general election. What really caused chaos in the house was her comment on the ex-CJI whom she did not name. The opposition led by Islamic parties boycotted the 2002 election in protest at the bicameral nature of the parliament, because the appointed upper chamber, the Shura Council, has the power to veto legislation. The National Assembly (Arabic: المجلس الوطني البحريني) is the name of both chambers of the Bahraini[1][2] parliament when sitting in joint session, as laid out in the Constitution of 2002. 2,072 Indians died of coronavirus infection abroad: Centre. Article 41 The Chairmen of theShura and the Parliament earn a salaryequivelent to aMinister’s salary beginning form the dayof they are chosen. The role demands a strong figure who can keep deputies in check and who has a clear grasp of the complicated rules, procedures and precedents of Bahrain’s Parliament. But we can make them put in one-way windows if they want permission to install electricity." However, no women were elected to office in that year's polls and instead Shī´a and Sunnī Islamic parties dominated the election, collectively winning a majority of seats. The Members of the Shura and the Parliament earn a monthlysalary of 1000 bahraini dinars from the daythey begin the membership. Parliament LATEST Updates. Date of the first session of the new parliament: 14 December 2014 Name of the new Speaker: Mr. Ahmed Bin Ebrahim Almulla: STATISTICS: Voter turnout: Round no 1 (from/to) 22 November 2014 29 November 2014: Number of registered electors Voters Blank or invalid ballot papers Valid votes: 349'713 183'936 (52.6%) Notes : Distribution of votes The government subsequently arrested over 1,000 individuals for their alleged participation in the incidents and proceeded to hold them without trial. Date of the first session of the new parliament: 14 December 2014 Name of the new Speaker: Mr. Ahmed Bin Ebrahim Almulla: STATISTICS: Voter turnout: Round no 1 (from/to) 22 November 2014 29 November 2014: Number of registered electors Voters Blank or invalid ballot papers Valid votes: 349'713 183'936 (52.6%) Notes : Distribution of votes The ICJ granted sovereignty over the Hawar Islands and Qit' at Jaradah to Bahrain and sovereignty over Zubarah (part of the Qatar Peninsula), Janan Island and Fasht ad Dibal to Qatar. After the missing councillors eventually arrived in Bahrain they defended their Bangkok stay, telling journalists it was a "fact-finding mission", explaining: "We benefited a lot from the trip to Thailand because we saw how they managed their transport, landscaping and roads.". The King is the head of the council. Bahrain's suspicion that Iran had also instigated domestic political unrest in the 1990s fueled the tension. Basic information such as the official name of parliament and details of its structure and leadership. After the death of Isa ibn Salman al-Khalifa in 1999, his son Shaikh Hamad ibn Isa al-Khalifah, the new ruler of Bahrain promulgated the Constitution of 2002. List Of Countries and their Parliament Names As India has Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha as the two houses of parliament, similarly other countries too have different houses of parliament. The near-total dominance of religious parties in elections has given new prominence to clerics within the political system, with the most senior Shia religious leader, Sheikh Isa Qassim, playing an extremely important role. He continued to implement democratic reforms, including the transformation of Bahrain from a hereditary emirate to a constitutional monarchy, and in so doing changed his status from emir to king. "[12] Over the showdown with the government and women's rights activists on the introduction of stronger legal rights for women, clerics have taken a lead in mobilising the opposition and threatened to instruct their supporters to vote against MPs that support women's rights. Dominated by Islamic and tribal MPs, liberals have criticised the lower house for trying to impose a restrictive social agenda and curtailing freedoms. The government of Bahrain has made a concerted effort to improve relations with both. The remaining members were independents with shifting positions. Countries and their Parliament’s names ... Bahrain Consultative Council Bangladesh Jatiya Parliament OR Jatiya Sangsa d This has meant that what is termed "morality issues" have moved further up the political agenda with parties launching campaigns to impose bans on female mannequins displaying lingerie in shop windows, sorcery and the hanging of underwear on washing lines. [7] The event resulted in approximately forty deaths. List of Countries and their Parliament Names Politics of Bahrain has since 2002 taken place in a framework of a constitutional monarchy where the government is appointed by the King of Bahrain, King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa. A parliament is a legislative body of government. On March 5, 2017, Bahrain’s parliament approved the trial of civilians at military tribunals in a measure blasted by human rights campaigners as being tantamount to imposition of an undeclared martial law countrywide. The "Religious Bloc" was made up of six Shia members mostly from rural constituencies. The only voices that regularly speak in favour of human rights and democratic values in the lower house are the former communists of the Democratic Bloc and the secular Economists Bloc. On behalf of the Uyghur and other Turkic peoples of East Turkistan, the East Turkistan Government-in-Exile’s Parliament expresses its great thanks to the Council of Representatives of the Kingdom of Bahrain for calling on the international community to help protect the Uyghur Muslims of East Turkistan. [3] All elected candidates ran as independents. The country's first female cabinet minister was appointed in 2004 when Dr. Nada Haffadh became Minister of Health, while the quasi-governmental women's group, the Supreme Council for Women, trained female candidates to take part in the 2006 general election. Hostile relations between Bahrain and Qatar stemmed from a longstanding territorial dispute. [3], Under the 1973 Constitution (Article 43), the National Assembly was a single chamber parliament consisting of forty members elected by "universal suffrage". The resulting clash with police soon grew into civil unrest.[5][6]. The reforms were based on the National Action Charter, a package of political changes that was endorsed by the people of Bahrain on 14 February 2001, in a popular referendum that saw a 98.4% vote in favour. On 11–12 November 2005, Bahrain hosted the Forum for the Future bringing together leaders from the Middle East and G8 countries to discuss political and economic reform in the region. Why neither of Bahrain’s political groups is favourable? The coup would have installed a Shia cleric exiled in Iran, Hujjatu l-Islām Hādī al-Mudarrisī, as supreme leader heading a theocratic government. Every country has it’s own name for its parliament and it is a very important topic for various competitive exams. According to Press TV, on March 14, 2011, troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were deployed to assist Bahrain in its crackdown. The UAE was the first in 2015 and Syria was the second one year later. Bahrain's five governorates are administered by the Minister of State for Municipalities and the Environment in conjunction with each Governorate's Governor. While Bahrain's liberals have sought to use the opening of civil society to campaign against the domination of Islamic parties in politics, with a campaign to protect personal freedoms, We Have A Right, led by the civic group, Al Muntada. Antigovernment factions state that the five municipal councils elected in 2002 do not have enough powers. However, the principle behind the Al Wefaq's boycott, that only elected MPs should have the right to legislate, was undermined when, in response to proposed changes to the family law to give women more rights, Al Wefaq stated that no one except religious leaders had the authority to amend the law because MPs could 'misinterpret the word of God.'. That same year elections were held for the Council of Representatives and he appointed the members for the Consultative Council, forming the first National Assembly since 1975. The opening up of politics has seen big gains for both Shī´a and Sunnī Islamic parties in elections, which has given them a parliamentary platform to pursue their policies. Citizens for Bahrain comment: A new phase for democracy in Bahrain . Shura members have responded by pointing out that an appointed upper chamber is a feature of long-established democracies such as the United Kingdom (where the upper chamber has the power to delay, but no power to veto legislation) They called for a clear definition of terrorism so that it could be differentiated from other criminal activities or activities such as rightful struggles against the foreign occupation for example. Both Sunnī and Shī´a Islamic parties suffered a setback in March 2006 when twenty municipal councillors, most of whom represented religious parties, went missing in Bangkok on an unscheduled stopover when returning from a conference in Malaysia [1]. Parliamentary elections took place on 26 October 2002 with the new legislature, the National Assembly, beginning work the following month. The word “Parliament” comes from the french verb “Parler” which means “to speak/talk”.