10 Facts About Al Wefaq

Al Wefaq boycotted the 2002 general election, the first parliamentary elections held in the country since 1973, claiming that the 2002 constitution gave too much power to the unelected upper house, the Consultative Council of Bahrain, whose members are directly appointed by the King.

However the Al Wefaq leadership withdrew support when the ruling regime later announced the 2002 Constitution which mandated a chamber, appointed directly by the King, that would have the same legislative power the elected chamber has.

Al Wefaq boycotted the 2002 parliamentary election, with three other political societies: the former Maoist National Democratic Action Society, Baath affiliated Nationalist Democratic Rally Society and Islamic Action Society.

However Al-Al Wefaq did put forward candidates for the municipal elections that occurred in the same year as they believed that municipal candidates will deal with servicing issues rather than politics which should not be affected much by the changes made in 2002 Constitution.

Ever since entering into the 2006 parliament, Al Wefaq had undertaken steps to go after individuals widely accused wrongdoing activities such as financial and administrative corruption and discriminatory practices.

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Al Wefaq announced that it would reverse its elections boycott and participate in the 2006 parliamentary election.

Parliamentary election campaigns of Al Wefaq members put many of the current hot issues in the political scene to the surface.

For example, Al Wefaq extensively used the Bandargate scandal in its campaigns and promised to question and punish those responsible for it.

Voters in five districts won by Al Wefaq independently surpassed the number of voters in five other districts collectively.

On 18 February 2011, Al Wefaq pulled its parliament bloc which consists of 18 MPs out of total 40 MPs following the killing of two protesters by the Bahraini police during the Bahrain uprising.