Bahraini opposition societies convene conference over the constitution
Bahrain, Politics, 2/10/2005

Four opposition societies which boycotted the legislative elections two years ago in Bahrain convenes today about the constitution. It is the second meeting of its kind held within this context.

The four societies are "the Islamic national reconciliation( represents the main trend amid the Shiite), the democratic national action ( Left and nationalists and independents) and the Islamic work ( Shiite represent the trend of the Sherazi community) and the democratic national coalition ( Baathists nationalists).

Chairman of the conference's preparatory committee Abdul Aziz Abel said that the conference will discuss "a report on the dialogue among the four societies and the government about the constitutional issue as well as work paper including the vision of the proposed constitutional amendments and assessing the performance of the current parliament.

The said societies held a conference in February 2004 about the constitution that provoked the government which prevented the entry of participants in the conference from Kuwait and France and announced that the discussion of the constitution is an internal matter and non Bahrainis should not discuss it.

Abel indicated that there are "guests from abroad" in the conference, noting that "they will not take part in the deliberations of the conference which will be limited to Bahraini activists and legal figures." He expressed hope that the "convening of the conference will not be a reason for any tension with the authorities.

Several days ago, the four societies extended a petition to King of Bahrain Hamad Bin Isa al-Khalifa demanding the making of constitutional amendments, but the royal court refused to receive this petition, as the Bahraini papers said.

These societies had boycotted the legislative elections in October 2002, in protest of the constitution of 2002, especially the sharing of the legislation authority between the elected parliament and the appointed Shoura council.

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