Al Wefaq

Al-Wefaq National Islamic Society (Arabic: جمعية الوفاق الوطني الإسلامية; Jam'īyat al-Wifāq al-Waṭanī al-Islāmīyah), sometimes shortened to simply Al-Wefaq, was a Shi'a Bahraini political party that operates clandestinely after being ordered by the highest court in Bahrain to be closed. Although from 2006 to 2011 it was by far the single largest party in the Bahraini legislature, with 18 representatives in the 40-member Bahraini parliament, it was often outvoted by coalition blocs of opposition Sunni parties and independent MPs reflecting gerrymandering of electoral districts. On 27 February 2011, the 18 Al-Wefaq members of parliament submitted letters of resignation to protest regime violence against pro-reform Bahraini protestors. Al Wefaq's religious orientation is Shi'a and it is led by a cleric, Ali Salman. The party is close to a Shi'a clerical body in Bahrain, the Islamic Scholars Council, which describes Al Wefaq as the 'Bloc of Believers'. In 2006, the pro-government English newspaper Gulf Daily News alleged that Al Wefaq had only 1,500 active members, although Al Wefaq itself claims to have 80,000 members and a leaked diplomatic briefing from the US Embassy in Bahrain described Al Wefaq as the largest political society in Bahrain in terms of membership. 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. In the 2006 election Al Wefaq received the backing of the Islamic Scholars Council which helped it win seventeen of the eighteen seats it contested. In the 2010 election, they increased their representation by one seat, winning all the constituencies they contested, to take 18 of the 40 available parliamentary seats. Following the 2011 Arab Spring, Al-Wefaq and other opposition...