Vision to lead

The general secretary of Al-Wefaq Islamic Society, Shaikh Ali Salman comes across as an incisive politician who has a clear political agenda and a respect for law and human rights. In an exclusive interview Shaikh Salman discusses his thoughts and visions for the forthcoming municipal and parliament elections.

The Al –Wefaq Islamic Society along with other societies had boycotted the 2002 elections and has now emerged as a strong party with the leadership of Shaikh Ali Salman. A rally was organized last week on the alleged political naturalization and many supporters of Shaikh Salman participated in the rally.
“There are many people who have been naturalised and this will manipulate the election. They should not be given a right to vote. According to the 1963 law, Article-6, an individual must have lived in the country for 10 years and can vote only10 years after that. But now individual are naturalized and they will vote with effect from this election.”
According to Shaikh Salman, in some districts in Bahrain there are more naturalised people than others and this will affect the outcome of the result in the particular area.


Speaking about the Al-Bandar report that has created quite a stir in the political scenario he said,” The report comes as an eye-opener for all the citizens of Bahrain. We cannot say it is false as the names listed in the report are of top officials. There should be an independent committee that should probe into the matter. In fact, Bandar should be given chance to justify the report that has exposed that there is a group outside and inside the country that aims to harm the interest of the country. All the persons whose names have appeared in the report should not contest for the elections till they are cleared of the charges.”

The decision not to implement the e-voting system in the coming elections was welcomed by the leader who said,” There was huge amount of money and manpower spent to introduce e-voting. It is beneficial in Western countries where the population is huge compared to Bahrain where it is just under a million. For example, in the northern governate there are about 13,000 voters and one can get the result in a couple of hours.”

Citing the example of Eqypt, the leader urged an independent foreign body to monitor the elections like in Egypt so that there would be transparency. “ The new council that the citizens will elect will deal with issues like housing, unemployment and corruption in the Kingdom.” Shaikh Salman also emphasized that a trust and cooperation needs to be established between the people, government and the political societies.