Bahraini elections

While Lebanon remains a potent crisis overshadowing much of the Arab media, it is worth noting that al-Jazeera is devoting its programming right now to a fascinating live forum on the Bahraini Parliamentary elections.   

It's one of the things I've always appreciated about al-Jazeera.  It has always done these kind of features on elections all around the Arab world  - not as a response to American pressure, nor in response to the invasion of Iraq, but because a concern with democracy and reform have always been core to its self-image and agenda.   The event on the air right now is the farthest thing from slick:  four worthies on a platform, including the Bahraini Minister of Information and several prominent Bahraini journalists, along with a studio audience which will get the chance to voice their opinions and pepper the guests with questions.   Bare bones, live and unfiltered - basically an Arab C-Span... but reaching a vast Arab audience in prime time rather than just the political junkies who pay attention to the American version.

As to the elections themselves, I haven't followed things closely enough to offer any serious analysis - but for those interested I'd point back to the excellent overview of the Bahraini scene written last month by Toby Jones for Qahwa Sada (and also this report from Durham University).   The main issues revolve around complaints by the Shia majority that the election is being manipulated to guarantee continued Sunni domination.   There is also widespread disenchantment with the progress of reform in the Kingdom.  Turnout appears to be high, a number of major Shia parties decided to contest the elections (despite a boycott by a few parties and the lingering dismay over the Bandar-Gate scandal about an official report about suppressing Shia votes), and some liberals are expressing tentative confidence.  But enthusiasts for the revolutionary potential of new media technologies like blogs and SMS text messages should note this AP report which points out the use of text messaging by Sunni groups determined to turn out the vote to prevent Shia victories which would (they say) turn Bahrain into Iraq... and the repression faced by Bahraini bloggers and other political activists in the runup to the election. 

There's been a fair amount of commentary on the Bahraini elections in the Arab media over the last few weeks.  It isn't just al-Jazeera, of course - I watched a fairly lengthy report on al-Arabiya yesterday and there have been many essays throughout the Arab press.  Some of the essays view it through the "rising Shia threat" lens, but the real debate seems to be over whether to  view it as Egypt 2005 ("corrupt Arab regime manipulating elections to ensure its preferred outcome") or as Kuwait 2006 ("achieving some progress through the ballot box despite the obstacles").   And then there was an essay in  yesterday's al-Quds al-Arabi, which described the Bahraini elections as "a model of reform in the American style":  gerrymandering elections to a powerless Parliament in order to put on the appropriate show for foreign audiences.  (Today's unsigned al-Quds editorial was more positive, highlighting that despite all its problems the election represented unprecedented democratic participation by Gulf standards.)

If nothing else, the Bahraini elections have proven galvanizing for young Bahraini political activists, who will perhaps build on this year's experiences and continue to push for a greater political role, more transparency and more accountability.  And the elections have sparked another round of region-wide political debate about democracy and the possibilities for change.   Just one more example of how the televised coverage and debate about Arab elections on al-Jazeera and its competitors can matter more than anything the United States does or says in shaping Arab attitudes towards democracy and reform.   

UPDATE:  of course, almost as soon as I posted this al-Jazeera  cut away from the live Bahrain forum to cover a press conference by Lebanon's Minister of Information on the results of a tense Cabinet meeting.   Hard to argue with the editorial decision, every other station I saw covered the press conference too.  Also, the prime time Behind the News show - a good indicator of al-Jazeera's sense of the day's top story - is focusing on the rising violence in Iraq.   Poor Bahrain, even on election day it can't compete with Lebanon or Iraq on the news agenda...

Comments

[Brian Ulrich]

I actually watched some of that forum, but couldn't pick up more than general topics. It was neat to see, though.

[MSK]

Dear AA,

do you know if AJE also covered it? On that note, does anyone actually watch AJE? I was very disappointed by the quality of its coverage of the Gemayel Burial/Demonstration on Thursday - the Arabic->English translator was very, very bad. I'd've imagined AJE to have better people.

What's the impression so far of how much AJE and AJA diverge in their coverage?

--MSK