Money means power, even for Shi’a women

A report released last week by the Electoral Integrity Project at Harvard University named Afghanistan, Syria and Bahrain as the worst elections of 2014. Both Sunni and Shi’a opposition groups boycotted parliamentary elections in protest of the unfair electoral system and the ongoing repression from the regime. Despite the widespread boycott of political societies representing Shi’a interests, 14 Shi’a candidates won, including three women. In fact, the only women elected to Bahrain’s new parliament are all Shi’a. While the Shi’a community in Bahrain is often considered to be economically and politically marginalized from the regime, the winning female candidates are wealthy and linked professionally with the regime. All three women — Fatimah al-Asfour, Rua al-Haiki and Jamila al-Sammak — are accomplished professionals: lawyer, businesswoman and doctor, respectively. Although their sectarian affiliation makes their electoral victories in the midst of a widespread Shi’a boycott noteworthy, their socioeconomic background makes it seem more like politics as usual.

Female candidates in Bahrain have historically had limited success in direct election to the Council of Representatives in contested districts. For example, Lateefa al-Gaoud, the first woman elected to parliament, won her seat twice only by default in 2006 and 2010. The first female candidates to win contested seats, Ibtisam Ahmed (Capital District 3) and Samia Al-Jowder (Central District 1), were elected in the second round of the off-cycle 2011 by-elections, which were held to fill the seats of opposition members of parliament who resigned during the Arab Spring.

Of the 22 female candidates who ran in contested elections in 2014, three won against male counterparts in the second round of voting.¹ Not only was the direct election of three female candidates in a general election a first for the kingdom, but it was also the first time Shi’a women won contested seats without any Sunni women winners. The first Shi’a female member of parliament, Sawsan Taqawi, was elected unopposed in the Northern Governorate, District 2 in the 2011 by-elections.

Although all three women were elected from the Northern Governorate, each candidate faced off in very different districts in terms of sectarian composition. In other words, not all Shi’a members of parliament were elected in Shi’a majority districts: Fatimah al-Asfour won in a Sunni majority district (1); Jamila al-Sammak won in a mixed district (12); and Rua al-Haiki won in a predominantly Shiite district (6). According to Magdalena Karolak (2014), this was also true of the female candidacies in the 2011 by-elections.² The three female candidates who ran in 2011 all ran in “constituencies dominated by opposition voters.” Two candidates, Somaya al-Jowder and Ebtisam Hijris, won in the second round against male counterparts, and Sawsan Taqawi, as noted above, was elected unopposed. 

Yet another interesting trend to appear in these elections was the level of wealth concentrated in the hands of the Shi’a women who won in the elections. The focus on Sunni-Shi’a divisions within Bahraini politics belies the lack of diversity when it comes to socioeconomic backgrounds of female candidates and winners. Especially after the Arab Spring protests at Pearl Circle, many pundits have ventured the idea that the regime has sought to fan sectarian divisions between the Shi’a majority and Sunni minority as part of its ruling strategy. These election results demonstrate this is not true of all Shi’a, as there are many powerful families who owe their status to allegiance to the monarchy. The women who won are no exception. In particular, al-Haiki is the CEO of the ADAMOV Management and Consulting Group, while Jamila al-Sammak has been a dominant force in Bahrain public health, most recently serving as the administrative manager for government hospitals across the kingdom.

As stated elsewhere, the big losers of the 2014 parliamentary elections in Bahrain seem to be the country’s increasingly marginalized political associations — only three members of parliament in the current assembly have party affiliations. While Justin Gengler points out that the elections were a success for independents over political societies, the socioeconomic background of the female candidates suggests that it is not only independents but those with vested interests in the Al-Khalifa monarchy who are well positioned to win elections in Bahrain. The 2014 election shows that the “apathetic” Sunni constituency, as Gengler calls them, is not the only pillar of regime power. Viewed in this light, the electoral victories of Shi’a women amidst a Shiite boycott are less remarkable.