Bahrain’s opposition to ramp up pressure: Analyst

Opposition parties in Bahrain are set to ramp up pressure on the regime in the wake of a dismal turnout for parliamentary elections, a commentator tells Press TV.

“The al-Wefaq and other parties who decided to boycott the election are deciding to ramp up their opposition because they know they have the majority of the population in their support right now,” Colin Cavell, an author and political commentator from West Virginia said in an interview with Press TV on Friday.

“Less than 30 percent of the population voted in the recent elections in Bahrain. The government is trying to say 50.5 percent of people voted – in other words they’re trying to say a slight majority voted in these elections, but everyone knows that less than one third of the population voted and the legitimacy of the al-Khalifa junta is in question,” Cavell added.

Bahraini voters took part in the country’s parliamentary and municipal elections last month, the first since a 2011 popular uprising. While the official electoral commission put voter turnout at 51.5 percent, Bahrain’s al-Wefaq National Islamic Society, which has decried the elections as a “farce”, said only 30 percent of eligible voters had participated and that of those, 80 percent were military and government personnel.

The Bahraini opposition has been demanding the formation of a constitutional monarchy and an independent election commission as well as the appointment of a prime minister by parliamentary majority instead of the king.

Since mid-February 2011, thousands of anti-regime protesters have held numerous demonstrations in the streets of Bahrain, calling for political reforms.