Cancerous pits: Iran and Qatar seek to spoil the Bahraini elections

Ali Ragab

Voters in the Kingdom of Bahrain cast their votes on Saturday, November 24 in the parliamentary and municipal elections, which comes at an important time as Qatar and Iran attempt to influence the elections and the voting rate.

According to figures from the Supreme Electoral Commission, 365,467 voters in 40 constituencies in four provinces will vote for 40 members of the House of Representatives out of 290 candidates, including 40 women and members of 30 municipal councils out of 137.

A few weeks before the elections, the Bahraini authorities revealed the involvement of Qatar and Iran in trying to influence the elections in order to show the Bahraini government as unpopular. The Bahraini authorities also revealed earlier this month that candidates received threats from Iran to discourage them from participating in the electoral process, according to the Bahraini News Agency.

In a joint statement on Wednesday, the pro-Iranian Islamic Waqf Movement and the Movement for Freedoms and Democracy called for “the biggest civil resistance and popular disobedience” on Nov. 24, emphasizing Iran’s attempts to use its arms to thwart the election.

Both movements consider a boycott of the elections as a “popular referendum” on the legitimacy of the regime in Bahrain, which indicates a scheme to target the kingdom.

Qatari role

The Bahraini newspaper Al Watan revealed a series of ongoing contacts of some of current MPs and so-called “political, social and media activists” with Qatari institutions with the aim of “negatively impacting the upcoming elections”.

Bahraini investigations have confirmed that Qatar’s former Interior Minister Abdullah bin Khalid al-Thani sent money through bank accounts to two Bahraini nationals in order to run for parliamentary elections, according to a statement by Bahraini Attorney-General Ahmed Al-Hammadi.

Al-Hammadi said that the Bahraini security authorities managed to arrest the suspects at the airport, who were carrying amounts exceeding 12,000 Bahraini dinars and 500 Qatari riyals received from the former Qatari minister. The Bahraini Public Prosecution ordered them to be held in custody after being charged with communicating with persons working for a foreign state with the intention of harm and receiving money contrary to the provisions of the law, as well as not disclosing in the customs office what amounts they have in their possession.

A source at Al-Watan newspaper, who declined to be named, said that some MPs, politicians and media figures were involved in receiving Qatari funds in order to achieve some political goals, pointing out that most of the funds were intended to buy wholesale Bahraini accounts to manipulate local public opinion. These accounts are managed from three capitals: Doha, Tehran and Beirut.

Malicious arms

Iranian affairs expert Hisham al-Baqali said that Iran has always been working to destabilize the security and political and social stability in Bahrain through different means, which has been evident since 2011.

Iran and Qatar aim to show the Bahraini regime that it has no popularity in the street. They therefore support their arms in the country and mobilize on social networking sites in order to achieve their goal, Baqali added.

However, he said, “The participation of Bahraini citizens abroad and the high turnout at home gives clear indication that the Bahrainis understood the malicious game and that they will not be a tool in the hands of the Iranian regime or its Qatari ally.”