By Isabel Coles for Reuters:
The by-election on Saturday is likely to deepen the impasse by shutting the opposition out of the political process and discrediting it as a way of reaching meaningful consensus, analysts and activists say.
Without Wefaq, they say, Bahrain’s next legislature is bound to be lopsided, precipitating a loss of faith in politics that will force people to look outside the system for leverage.
“People have no trust now and they have nothing to do on the political side so they say they are going to continue to demand on the street side,” said Ali al-Aswad of Wefaq, who had vacated one of the seats.
Activists called for a big demonstration on Friday on the eve of the election, dubbing it “Return to Pearl Square.” Friday has become a day of protest across the region, as it falls on the weekend when people are off work and gather for prayer.
Pearl Square was a central roundabout in Manama and epicenter of the protest movement earlier this year. After Bahrain imposed martial law and cleared the square, its monument — featuring a concrete ball in a nod to the country’s history as a pearl harvesting and trading hub — was razed.
In the Shi’ite villages ringing the capital Manama, people often show up at rallies carrying small-scale, home-made models of the demolished monument.
Cooking gas canisters are being taken from outside homes and blown up, and increasingly critical caricatures of the king are sprayed onto walls overnight, residents say.
“There’s a sense of foreboding and that things are going to get worse and that’s clearly what’s happening. Frankly the young men are not quite so scared of the tear gas and the stun grenades as they used to be,” said Stephens.
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