ELECTION HIGHLIGHTS NO. 5: SHAIKH ISA QASSEM

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 MANAMA 001870 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/31/2016 TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM BA POL SUBJECT: ELECTION HIGHLIGHTS NO. 5: SHAIKH ISA QASSEM INVOLVEMENT, WEB SITE CLAMPS Classified By: DCM Susan L. Ziadeh for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). ¶1. (C) SUMMARY: Leading Shi'a cleric Shaikh Isa Qassem continued to actively endorse participation in the elections, including in a district in the Central Governorate known to support a continued Shi'a boycott of the political system. Al Wifaq president Shaikh Ali Salman November 2 assured liberals that an Al Wifaq bloc in the parliament would not endanger civil liberties by promoting an Islamist political or social agenda. A number of web sites were blocked October 30 on the justification that they featured material that violated the High Criminal Court ban on publishing any information about the investigation of the Al Bandar case. Liberal Al Muntada Society initiated a round of five debates October 30 for candidates of the Manama Governorate on a range of issues, but the debate was not well attended and candidates presented their platforms rather than engaging in true debate. End summary. ¶2. (C) SHAIKH ISA QASSEM INTERVENTION: Leading Shi'a cleric Shaikh Isa Qassem planned to visit the sixth district of the Central Governorate November 2, which includes several towns that are predominantly Shi'a. Two of these towns have a particularly large number of supporters of the Haq Movement (a few thousand of the approximately 9,500 voters),which has maintained its rejectionist views and is encouraging voters to boycott the elections. Al Wifaq president Shaikh Ali Salman visited the area recently but was not successful in prevailing on voters to participate. Al Wifaq fears that an effective election boycott from these two towns could drain enough support from Al Wifaq candidate and Shi'a cleric Shaikh Haider Al Sitri, who is well-known in the community for his anti-government activism in the 1990's. This could set the stage for the reelection of current MP Mohamed Al Shaikh, who is also Shi'a and effectively championed the concerns of his constituents during his four years in parliament. Al Wifaq has targeted his seat and those of other Shi'as who went against the 2002 boycott and are therefore thought by some to have betrayed the interests of the larger Shi'a community. ¶3. (SBU) For the third consecutive Friday sermon October 27, Shaikh Isa spoke out against continuing the boycott and in favor of participation. He said, "Boycotts and participation are both political mechanisms of the opposition. The boycott was tested for four years and the result was that it failed. Participation should not be viewed as the lack of opposition, but as another political mechanism that the opposition uses and expects to yield positive results. There is no tool that is more productive than participation in elections." ¶4. (SBU) AL WIFAQ BLOC INTENTIONS: Al Wifaq president Shaikh Ali Salman November 2 publicly reassured liberals in Bahrain that an Al Wifaq bloc in the parliament would not attempt to curb civil liberties or impose the hijab (head scarf) on the society. He reaffirmed that Al Wifaq was not in favor of the establishment of a committee to promote virtue and to crack down on "sinful" practices, along the lines of the Saudi religious police. ¶5. (SBU) BLOCKED WEB SITES, BANDARGATE: Minister of Information Dr. Mohamed Abdul Ghaffar announced October 30 his decision to block seven web sites that posted material that was prohibited by law. In his statement he referred to the press and publications law of 2002, which has not been formally implemented by the GOB but has been used periodically to justify government restrictions on the media, but he did not detail what the specific materials were that violated the law. The following day the acting director of press and publications at the Ministry stated that the web sites violated the High Criminal Court decision to ban the publication of any information related to the investigation of the Al Bandar case. One of the blocked web sites was that of Mahmoud Al Yousif, a moderate blogger featuring a diverse range of topics of public interest on his web site www.mahmood.tv. Al Yousif recently started a button campaign called "Just Bahraini" (justbahraini.org) featuring buttons with the message "No Shi'i, No Sunni, Just Bahraini!" to counter sectarian messages in Bahrain. There were reports that Al Yousif's web site was back online by November 2. ¶6. (SBU) PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES: Liberal, secular Al Muntada Society, headed by Jamal Fakhro, Shura Council Financial and Economic Affairs committee chairman, opened a series of parliamentary debates October 30, beginning with seven of the nearly fifty candidates from the Manama governorate, one of whom was a woman and three of whom were opposition candidates. Political issues were the focus of this first debate of a scheduled five, one for each governorate. Future debates will focus on the economy (Muharraq Governorate), MANAMA 00001870 002 OF 003 civil liberties (Northern Governorate),press freedom (Central Governorate),and public services (Southern Governorate). According to reports, attendance was low and candidates took advantage of the time to present their campaign platform rather than debate fellow candidates. ¶7. (SBU) Columnist Sawsan Al Shaer wrote November 2 in Arabic daily Al Watan that she wonders why the large Sunni Islamic societies Al Minbar (Muslim Brotherhood) and Al Asala (Salafi) refused to participate in the debate sponsored by Al Muntada. She criticized their limited mindset stating that they only reach out to like-minded voters rather than seeking to represent all segments of the society in their respective districts. Al Shaer wrote, "They have either lost hope of attracting others (to their message) or they are afraid of confrontation. So either they have low self confidence or they don't care about people who are different than they are. This is a mistake that even radical Shi'a blocs avoid, while these two societies ignore the issue, even though the duty of a member of parliament is to represent all citizens in the district and not just one segment." ¶8. (SBU) CANDIDATE CODE OF CONDUCT: Bahrain Transparency Society (BTS) held a meeting to discuss a code of conduct for candidates October 26 at which approximately 20 parliamentary candidates, among other society representatives were in attendance. The purpose of the meeting was to generate discussion about the code of conduct's points and solicit ideas for amendments to the pre-drafted document. According to Dr. Jasim Al Ajmi, BTS president, the society has incorporated changes based on the feedback from candidates and society representatives, and will present the updated code of conduct to candidates November 4 for a public signing ceremony. ¶9. (SBU) OBSERVATION: Unnamed sources revealed October 28 that the High Commission for Elections is studying requests from international organizations to monitor the elections. BTS president Al Ajmi confirmed that two international organizations have requested to monitor. Regarding local observers, High Commission for Elections Judge Khalid Ajaj said November 2 that four civil society groups had applied thus far to monitor the elections. The deadline for submitting requests is November 10. The Ministry of Justice sponsored a two-day workshop beginning November 1 for those interested in monitoring the elections. Attendance on the first day was reportedly very low. Ajaj attributed the low turnout to late notification of civil society organizations prior to the start of the workshop and the fact that some NGOs felt that participation might compromise their reputation for being independent and neutral. ¶10. (SBU) CLERIC AND JOURNALIST CANDIDATES: Candidates demanded October 29 that clerics who are also running for office be suspended from giving Friday prayer sermons until after the elections. This demand was in response to an October 28 statement by Shaikh Salman Bin Isa Al Khalifa, the head of the board of directors for the Sunni Awqaf Endowment, which assigns Sunni clerics to particular mosques, that the Awqaf would not enforce a suspension on clerics who are candidates. Instead, due to a shortage of clerics, the Awqaf would rotate them to a mosque outside the district in which they are running for election to prevent them from using their sermons to promote their campaign. However, candidates insisted that a rotation still violates the Ministry of Islamic Affairs directive banning the delivery of Friday sermons by any candidate in the election. ¶11. (SBU) Bahrain Journalists Association called on all reporters and columnists who are also taking part in the election to suspend their work in the press until after the election, so they will not use their access to the press for unfair advantage. Similarly, BTS president Al Ajmi confirmed that BTS will call for journalists to sign a code of ethics related to the election, including a prohibition on journalists and media personalities from participating in an election campaign because it will affect their neutrality in reporting and expressing opinion. ¶12. (C) COMMENT: Election activity continued to expand during the first full week following the Muslim Eid Al Fitr holiday. The number of campaign posters and billboards on the side of the road has increased significantly. Candidates continued to formally kick off their campaigns and open their campaign tents for visitors this week. Even though there is increased activity in the tents and on the street, the interest in a potentially substantive activity addressing platforms and real issues, such as the Al Muntada-sponsored debate, was disappointingly low. Unconfirmed reports alleging that candidates are buying votes for amounts ranging MANAMA 00001870 003 OF 003 from 20 BD ($53) to 100 BD ($265) are common, but there have yet to be any official violations issued by the Ministry of Justice. BTS continues to document violations, the large majority of which to date are violations of the guidelines for placing posters and billboards. ********************************************* ******** Visit Embassy Manama's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/manama/ ********************************************* ******** MONROE