Bahraini parliamentary election, 1973
Encyclopedia
Parliamentary elections were held for the first time in Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...

 on 12 December 1973, under the Constitution of 1973
Constitution of Bahrain
Bahrain has had two constitutions in its modern history. The first one was promulgated in 1973, and the second one in 2002.-Constitution of 1973:* Full text of the 1973 constitution...

. Thirty members were elected to the National Assembly of Bahrain
National Assembly of Bahrain
The National Assembly is the name of both chambers of the Bahraini parliament when sitting in joint session, as laid out in the Constitution of 2002....

, by a franchise restricted to male citizens. An additional 14 ministers of the royally-appointed government became unelected ex officio members of National Assembly to make a total of 44 parliamentarians. Of the 24,883 registered voters, 19,509 cast a ballot, giving a voter turnout of 78.4%.

Of the elected members, two distinct political blocs emerged. One was called the "People's Bloc" consisting of eight members associated with leftist and nationalist organizations (including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain
Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Bahrain was an underground political party in Bahrain with origins in the Arab Nationalist Movement. Its members were inclined towards the leftist Marxist trend within the ANM...

, National Liberation Front – Bahrain, or the Baathist movement) elected from urban areas, both Shia and Sunni. The other was called the 'Religious Bloc' made up of six Shia members mostly from rural constituencies. The remaining were independents with shifting positions.

The elected members of the 1973 national assembly were:
  1. Hassan Al Jishi (President of National Assembly)
  2. Khalifa Ahmed Al Bin Ali
    Khalifa Ahmed Al Bin Ali
    Khalifa Ahmed Al Bin Ali , was one of the leading, principal, and most important men of the Al Bin Ali tribe in Bahrain during the early 1970s throughout the early 2000s.-Biography:...

     (Vice-President of National Assembly)
  3. Ali Qasim Rabea
  4. Isa Ahmed Qasim
  5. Abdulhadi Khalaf
    Abdulhadi Khalaf
    Abdulhadi Khalaf is a Bahrani leftist political activist and academic. He received his primary and secondary education in Bahrain, then went abroad for college. He obtained a doctorate in sociology from Sweden's University of Lund in 1972...

  6. Rasool Al-Jishi
  7. Abdullah Ali Al-Moawada
  8. Mohammed Jaber Al-Sabah
  9. Ali Bin Ebrahim Abdul Aal
  10. Jassim Mohammed Murad
  11. Isa Hassan Al-Thawadi
  12. Ibrahim Mohammed Hassan Fakhro
  13. Abdul Amir Al-Jamri
    Abdul Amir al-Jamri
    Sheikh Abdul Amir al-Jamri was the 'spiritual leader' of Bahrain's Twelver Shi'a population and the 1990s Intifada. He is the father of Mansoor Al-Jamri, editor-in-chief of the Al Wasat daily newspaper.- Biography :...

  14. Abdullah Mansoor Isa
  15. Alawi Makki Alharkhat
  16. Khalid Ibrahim Al-Thawadi
  17. Mustafa Mohammed Al-Qassab
  18. Abdullah Al-Shaikh Mohammed Al-Madani
  19. Abbas Mohammed Ali
  20. Yousif Salman Kamal
  21. Abdul Aziz Mansoor Al-Aali
  22. Hassan Ali Al-Mutawaj
  23. Salman Al shaikh Mohammed
  24. Ibrahim bin Salman al Khalifa
  25. Khalifa Al Dhahrani
    Khalifa Al Dhahrani
    His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa King of Bahrain, assigned the Speaker of the Council of Representatives Mr. Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Dahrani to chair the National Dialogue because of the popularity and confidence he enjoys among all the political forces, in addition to his broad experience...

  26. Mohammed Salman Ahmed Hammad
  27. Mohammed Abdullah Harmas(Al Harmesi Al-Hajeri)
  28. Mohsin Hameed Al-Marhoon
  29. Ali Saleh Al-Saleh
  30. Hamad Abdullah Abel


In 1975 the Assembly was dissolved by the then ruler Shaikh Isa ibn Salman al-Khalifa because it refused to pass the government sponsored State Security Law of 1974
State Security Law of 1974
Following Bahrain’s independence from the British in 1971, the government of Bahrain embarked on an extended period of political suppression under a 1974 State Security Law shortly after the adoption of the country’s first formal Constitution in 1973...

. Shaikh Isa subsequently did not allow the Assembly to meet again or hold elections during his lifetime. The next parliamentary elections were held in 2002 after a gap of 27 years. During that period, Bahrain
Bahrain
' , officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is a small island state near the western shores of the Persian Gulf. It is ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family. The population in 2010 stood at 1,214,705, including 235,108 non-nationals. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared a kingdom in 2002.Bahrain is...

was run by the royally-appointed government under emergency laws.
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