By Elections fever heating up

V L Srinivasan
Manama (Bahrain), April 12:

For the second time in less than a year, as many as 111,814 voters will exercise their right to elect at least 11 MPs to seats in the Lower House of Parliament left vacant by the resignation of Al Wefaq MPs.
Although the dates for the by-polls have not yet been set, the House last month accepted the resignations of 11 of the 18 Al Wefaq MPs and postponed its decision on the remaining seven.
If the House accepts the seven other resignations, an additional 69,424 voters will go to the polls in the by-elections.
The 18 seats fell vacant after all the Al Wefaq MPs resigned in protest during the unrest in February.
By-elections are widely expected to take place after the State of National Safety ends in June. However, in the case that the National Safety period is extended, the by-elections will be postponed.
Although the former Al Wefaq MPs have the right to contest the by-elections and try to be reelected to their former posts, observers have indicated that they are unlikely to contest the elections this time around.
Former candidate Hamad Jassim Al Harbi has already announced that he is to contest the upcoming polls after he unsuccessfully ran against sitting MP and Chairman of the House Khalifa Al Dahrani in 2006 and 2010.
This time he plans to contest the elections from the Northern Governorate’s Second Constituency – an area previously represented by Al Wefaq MP Ali Al Aswad.
“I decided to stand in the by-election, which was necessitated due to the resignations of the Al Wefaq MPs, to contribute towards the smooth and effective functioning of Parliamentary democracy in the Kingdom,” the Parliamentary hopeful said.
“Although I was keen to run in Constituency Five in the Northern Governorate, represented by Al Wefaq MP Sayed Mohammed Sayed, the House has postponed its decision on his resignation. Hence I have decided to contest from Constituency Two in the same Governorate,” he explained.
Mr. Al Harbi is the first independent candidate to announce his plans to run, while businessman and a member of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Osama Abdulhameed Al Khaja is the first candidate to be backed by a political bloc to express his interest in contesting the polls.
The Al Asala political bloc has announced its support for Mr. Al Khaja, who will contest from Constituency One in the Central Governorate.
Mr. Al Khaja said he is finalising his electoral manifesto that will address the expectations of voters. He explained that this focus will be mainly on housing, salary increases and improved living conditions for citizens.
He added that he will also seek increased support for small and medium sized businesses.
Unconfirmed reports have also indicated that other candidates from the 2010 polls will be contesting these by-elections. These include Khalid Al Shaer, former MP Hassan Bukhamas and Kadhem Saeed. All the three candidates are independent.
No female candidates have yet confirmed that they will be contesting the polls.