1973 Bahraini general election

12 December 1973

30 of the 44 seats in the National Assembly
Turnout78.4%
The religious block in Parliament, showing from right to left: Sheikh Abdul Amir al-Jamri, Abbas Al-Rayes and Ayatollah Isa Qassim

General elections were held in Bahrain for the first time on 12 December 1973.[1] 30 seats out of the 44-seated unicameral National Assembly were contested, the other 14 were ex officio.[2] Of the 24,883 registered voters, 19,509 cast a ballot, giving a voter turnout of 78.4%.[3]

Two distinct political blocs amongst the elected members; the "People's Bloc" consisted of eight Shia and Sunni members elected from urban areas and associated with left-wing and nationalist organizations, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain, the National Liberation Front – Bahrain or the Baathist movement. The 'Religious Bloc' was made up of six Shia members mostly from rural constituencies. The remaining members were independents with shifting positions.[4]

Electoral system

The elections were held under the 1973 constitution. The 44-seat National Assembly had thirty members elected by a franchise restricted to male citizens, with an additional 14 ministers of the royally-appointed government becoming ex officio members.[4]

Elected members

The elected members of the 1973 national assembly were:

Constituency Elected Member Bloc[5] Votes[6] Position
1Rasool Al-Jishi759
1Khalid Ibrahim Al-Thawadi691
2Abdulhadi Khalaf711
2Hassan Al Jishi582President
3Mohammed Salman Ahmed Hammad288
4Mohammed Abdullah Harmas304
4Mohsin Hameed Al-MarhoonPeople's221
5Ali Saleh Al-Saleh468
6Hamad Abdullah Abul311
7Ali Ebrahim Abdul Aal207
8Abdullah Ali Al-Moawada580
8Jassim Mohammed Murad596
9Ali Qasim RabeaPeople's573
9Mohammed Jaber Al-SabahPeople's341
10Isa Hassan Al-Thawadi557
10Ibrahim Mohammed Hassan Fakhro488
11Khalifa Ahmed Al Bin Ali388Vice-President
12Abdullah Mansoor Isa650
13Mustafa Mohammed Al-QassabReligious665
13Alawi Makki Alsharakhat633
14Abdullah Al-Shaikh Mohammed Al-MadaniReligious771Secretary
15Isa Ahmed QasimReligious1079
15Abdul Amir al-JamriReligious817
16Abbas Mohammed AliReligious324
17Yousif Salman Kamal359
18Abdul Aziz Mansoor Al-Aali631
19Hassan Ali Al-MutawajReligious585
19Salman Al shaikh MohammedReligious495
20Ibrahim bin Salman al Khalifa572
20Khalifa Al Dhahrani250

Aftermath

In 1975 the Assembly was dissolved by the then ruler Sheikh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa because it refused to pass the government sponsored State Security Law of 1974. Isa subsequently refused to allow the Assembly to meet again or hold elections during his lifetime. The next parliamentary elections were held in 2002 after a gap of 27 years. During that period, Bahrain was run by the royally-appointed government under emergency laws.[4]

References

  1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p53 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
  2. "Majlis Al-Nuwab (Council of Representatives)" (PDF). INTER-PARLIAMENTARY UNION. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
  3. Nohlen et al., p54
  4. 1 2 3 Bahrain, Federal Research Division, 2004, Kessinger Publishing, pp 97 - 98
  5. «الكتلة الدينية» في برلمان 1973 Al Wasat News (in Arabic)
  6. انتخابات المجلس الوطني عام 1973 (2) Archived 2014-08-19 at the Wayback Machine Akhnar al-Khaleej (in Arabic)
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