Voters have been advised against boycotting this month’s parliamentary and municipal council elections, ahead of a discussion planned by critics of Bahrain.
Two US members of Congress – James McGovern and Christopher Smith – are hosting an online forum on Bahrain’s 2022 national elections today under the patronage of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission.
Participants include activists and organisations such as the Human Rights Watch who are overtly critical of the kingdom’s policies, and are known for their biased agenda.
“Boycotting is an irrational and unrealistic way of addressing concerns about government performance in the 21st Century,” said the Bahrain Human Rights Watch Society (BHRWS) in an open letter.
“Bahrain is a young democracy and it is far from perfect,” it added in a statement yesterday.
“Citizens continuously address their grievances about Parliament’s performance, yet we do have a democratic system that we can work through.
“Citizens, political societies and candidates should find ways of working within the political system rather than boycotting and sidelining themselves.”
The society, which will be monitoring the November 12 elections, pointed out that supporters or sympathisers of a defunct political group were pushing their agenda to boycott the elections.
“While they’ve continued to campaign against their country, their (the defunct political group’s) young followers have shifted their priorities and feel that their economic interests and the well-being of their families came ahead of political leaders with insensible agendas,” it said.
It added that constituencies where majority of the sympathisers of the defunct political group reside will witness voters turning up at polling centres to exercise their franchise.
The BHRWS said the right to vote is guaranteed in the Constitution and citizens have the right to take part in public affairs and enjoy their political rights.
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