Bahrain talks to go on without opposition
19 July, 2011 13:05
The Bahraini government says it will carry on with its so-called national dialogue in the absence of the country’s largest opposition party — the Islamic National Accord Association (Al Wefaq).
On Sunday, Wefaq said it was pulling out of a national dialogue set up by the government because the talks were occurring “without success” and that pro-government representatives dominated.
“The Wefaq board decided to pull out of the so-called National Consensus Dialogue and submitted its decision to the Wefaq Shura council for ratification,” Khalil al-Marzouk, Wefaq spokesman, said.
He added, “The Wefaq team will not attend the talks. We have tried but without success to make it a serious dialogue.â€
Wefaq has been complaining for weeks that the opposition has been given too small a fraction of seats — 35 out of 300 –, and is overpowered by pro-government representatives.
Since the beginning of Bahrain’s revolution, large numbers of anti-government protesters have poured into the streets across the Persian Gulf state, calling for more rights, freedom and wide-ranging political reforms in the political system of their country.
According to local sources, dozens of people have been killed and hundreds arrested so far during the government clampdown on peaceful demonstrations.
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